325 Days
by dashboardconfessions
Summary: {Spoilers for House of Hades, if you haven't finished reading yet}. It only took Nico 325 days to make Percy fall in love with him. Percy/Nico pairing with slight Percy/Annabeth along the way.
1. Day 1

**A/N: Okay, so I'm really obsessed with Percy/Nico right now. I really don't know why. I didn't know I shipped it this hard until now. So, sorrynotsorry about my slight obsession. Anyway, this fic is probably gonna move really slow, but I hope it'll still be interesting. Basically, I'm gonna try to do one little Percy/Nico chapter every day until Blood of Olympus comes out. I might be off a couple of days on the countdown, but I think it's 325 days. So yeah, I'm gonna try to keep a little storyline going and try to keep it interesting, but it will move a little slow. Just warning you. Like this chapter. But I hope that you guys will still enjoy this. Please read, review, favorite, alert, whatever you want. Constructive criticism is welcome.**

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_Day 1_

She said that she wanted to take a break, not because she didn't love him, because he knew that she did, and he loved her too. No, she gave him a very good reason, and he was very accepting of that.

She wanted to go to college with him and she wanted to continue her life with him, and maybe, one day, they might even get married. Who knew? They had been through everything together since they were twelve years old, and they had liked each other from the beginning. They had been through everything together. They could relate to each other, they could understand. They could take care of each other, they could depend on each other.

She knew that. He knew that. It would be incredibly difficult for one of them to live without the other. But they had to try. That's what she had said. They needed to take a break. A few months after winning the Giant War and defeating Gaea, she came to him and told him that she needed a break. They were demigods, and they weren't supposed to have normal lives, but she wanted to try. She wanted to go to college, meet different people, try to see some more of the world. She wanted to be an architect. She wanted to see what life would be like on her own.

It would be hard, she had said, because she loved him so, so much, but she wanted to be alone for a while to get a little more control on her life.

Percy could understand that. Tried to understand that. Wanted to understand that. But he couldn't, because Annabeth was really all he had left after the war, and he didn't want to lose her. But she wanted to go to college and be alone and separate herself from Camp Half-Blood for a little while.

So he let her go, because he wanted her to do what made her feel happy, and it seemed that being away would make her feel happy. For now.

They had a going-away party for her the next day. Piper, Jason, Leo, Tyson, Grover, Chiron, the rest of the campers, and even their Roman friends showed up to celebrate. Percy tried to smile his way through it, because Annabeth didn't want to tell anyone that they were taking a break. She didn't want to ruin the mood. It was already bad enough that Percy's mood was ruined, and hers wasn't much better. So he smiled through it and pretended like he was so, so happy for Annabeth starting college a semester early and getting to follow her dream, even though every minute of it seemed to be breaking his heart more and more.

He said his goodbyes to her that night, because she would be leaving bright and early the next morning for California, where she planned on attending university. She cried and told him that she was sorry and that she felt like this was the right thing to do, and if it wasn't, they would know, and they would fix it. And he agreed with her, even though he did not want to. She hugged him tightly, and he held her in his arms until she broke away from him. And he did not dare cry, because he was trying to be strong for her. He wanted her to do what she wanted to do. He didn't want to stay behind because it was hurting him. So he told her that it was okay and that he would miss her, and he would be waiting for her when she decided to come back. And she smiled and promised to Iris-message him as often as she possibly could and maybe even come and visit if she had the chance. And he was glad for that.

He let her go, and she went, and even as she walked away to the road where her father waited for her in his car, Percy could feel that one of two things was going to happen in this situation. She was either going to miss him so much that she would come back, call off the break, and postpone her dreams for him; or, she was going to find that she actually quite enjoyed being in California, not having a boyfriend, meeting new people, and doing what she wanted to do. He didn't want to sound selfish, but he hoped it was the first option.

That night, after Annabeth and her father disappeared down the road and out of sight, Percy locked himself in the Poseidon cabin where he could be alone, and that's where he let out all his rage and sadness. For the first time since she broke up with him, he cried, and he hated crying because his face got all red and his eyes got all puffy and eventually his head started to hurt and despite all that the tears kept coming. He threw things and made a complete mess, and he ended up on his bed with his face buried in his pillow, trying to block out the rest of the world. Annabeth was on her way to California. They were not dating anymore. She may or may not come back for him. Nothing mattered, and he was so, so angry.

He thought about Iris-messaging her. He had a whole pile of drachmas on his nightstand beside his bed that he could use, and there was a fountain gurgling on the other side of the room. But what if she was on a plane or something? He couldn't Iris-message her while she was around a bunch of people. He didn't know if the Mist would cover it up or not. So he would have to wait for her to Iris-message him.

He lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, trying to think of other things besides Annabeth and how she had completely abandoned him. But somehow, everything he thought about seemed to lead him right back to Annabeth. So he just tried to stop thinking period, which was usually not hard for him. But tonight it was.

There was a knock at the door. He looked up, wondering who could possibly be stopping by his cabin this late at night. Perhaps it was Chiron, checking to make sure that Percy was actually in the cabin and hadn't run off somewhere. Or perhaps it was one of his friends, checking to make sure that he was okay. He did not really want to see anyone, so he didn't say anything. Maybe whoever it was would go away.

But after a few seconds, there was another knock. Percy rolled his eyes and groaned as he crawled out of bed and made his way to the door. He hoped it wasn't Jason or Piper or Leo. Jason would probably just try to make Percy feel better, Piper would probably try to give him terrible love advice, and Leo would be cracking jokes. All of which Percy was not in the mood for right now.

He pulled back the curtain at the window and saw that it wasn't any of them standing outside the door. It was Nico. And he didn't know if that was worse or not. Did he want someone in a good mood to keep him company, or did he want another completely gloomy, miserable soul visiting him? He decided that Leo would be better than Nico.

Another knock, and Percy sighed and opened the door. It wasn't that he didn't like Nico, because he did. He was an okay person, when he wanted to be. He just didn't want to see anyone right now, and Nico was one of the last people in the world that he wanted to see.

Just the sight of him made Percy want to slam the door in his face. He was standing there with his oversized, black band t-shirt and his black jeans and boots, his dark hair all tousled and hanging down in his pale face. He looked really miserable, like he always did, but Percy thought he might have noticed something in his eyes that he hadn't seen in a while. Just a little glimmer of happiness, maybe. But for the most part, he just looked sad. And Percy didn't want to deal with it.

"Look, Nico," he said, as calmly as he possibly could, "No offense, but I don't really want to see anyone right now. Annabeth just left, and-"

"I know," Nico replied, flipping his hair out of his face. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. "I was at the party."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "You were? I didn't even see you."

Nico shrugged. "No one ever does. I was trying to stay away from all the action. I don't really like being around big groups of people."

Percy didn't really know what to say to him. He still didn't really know why Nico was even here. So he just said, "Oh."

Nico stared at him for a second, which made Percy feel really uncomfortable, and he sighed. "Okay, well, thanks for stopping by. But I really kind of just want to be alone right now."

"I understand," Nico said. "I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."

Percy flinched. Why would he not be? Because Annabeth wasn't here, she had moved away to go to college? No, he had a feeling that that was not what Nico was talking about. He and Annabeth hadn't told anyone about the "break," but he had a feeling that Nico knew.

And that little glimmer of hope in Nico's eyes was pissing him off. What was he expecting to come out of this? Percy had been told by Frank who had been told by Hazel who had been told by Piper that Nico had a crush on Annabeth. So what? Did he expect that now Annabeth was away from Percy, she would suddenly not be interested in him? What was he planning on doing, shadow-traveling to California and hanging out with Annabeth?

Perhaps he was jumping to conclusions, but he really didn't like that Nico knew, and he didn't like the look on Nico's face.

"I'm fine," he grumbled. "I think I'm going to go to sleep now." He started to shut the door, but Nico put up his hand to stop it.

"Breaking up is hard," Nico said. "I mean, I wouldn't know, but I assume it is. And I really don't think you should be alone right now. Sometimes people do really stupid things when they're mad or upset."

Percy tensed, his lip curling into a snarl. He usually didn't get irritated with people so easily, but this was the wrong time for people to be talking to him about his feelings. Especially Nico. As if Nico could understand, as if he even cared. What was he doing here?

"I wasn't planning on doing anything stupid," Percy growled. "I just want to go to sleep. I think you should mind your own business, Nico."

Nico looked hurt. His hair fell back into his face, half-covering his dark eyes and making him look a whole lot more ominous. But his eyes looked pained, like it actually hurt his feelings that Percy was getting so irritated with him. He always thought that Nico was the irritable one, the one that didn't care about other people's emotions, the one that tore people down whenever they tried to make a connection with him. But for tonight, the roles were reversed.

"Okay," Nico said. "I understand. You're mad. But if you ever need someone to talk to, or just someone to listen…" He trailed off and looked down at the ground, and Percy could have sworn that there was a blush creeping onto his pallid face, which Percy thought was really strange. "Never mind. Sorry I bothered you. Good night."

Percy frowned, his eyebrows furrowing, and he nodded. He didn't mean to look angry. In fact, he didn't_ think_ he looked angry, but the look on Nico's face said otherwise. The poor kid looked like he was afraid that Percy was going to attack him. But then Nico's expression darkened, his eyes narrowed, and once again he looked like the moody, gloomy boy that Percy was used to.

Percy's expression softened. He almost wanted to apologize. After all, Nico had just been checking on him. And when had he ever bothered to ask Nico how he was feeling and what was going on with him? He hadn't.

Still, it seemed like wherever Nico went, he carried hostility with him, and it eventually spread to people around him. Maybe it was just a Hades kid thing. Percy couldn't be blamed for that, right?

He should apologize. But before he could even get his mouth to move or get control over his voice, Nico had walked away and melted into the shadows, like he was so good at doing.

Great, Percy thought. Now Nico was going to run off again and be all mad at him, and Percy wouldn't get a chance to apologize until Nico decided to return, which could be weeks from now.

Oh, well. Nico had been mad at him before. And with good reason, too. Percy was a terrible friend to him.

But as Percy slammed the door shut and locked it and returned to the safety of his bed, he found himself caring less and less about Nico's feelings. The only thing that mattered was Annabeth and the fact that she was not here with him. She was away, following her dreams, maybe not ever coming back, probably forgetting about him.

No, he couldn't think like that. Annabeth would never forget him. They were still…technically together, right?

He sighed and flipped over to his side. The light on the right side of the room was casting blue and green patterns all over the seashell-covered walls. It was hypnotic and beautiful, and it was making him incredibly sleepy. But he knew that he would not be sleeping tonight. Not like this, knowing that tomorrow would come and Annabeth would not be there.

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**So go ahead and tell me how horrible it was. This is definitely not my favorite thing I've ever written. Or, you know, if you enjoyed it for some strange reason, tell me in the reviews. If you have any ideas, also let me know. **


	2. Day 2

**A/N: You guys! Thanks so much for the nice reviews! I wasn't sure if this was going to be a good idea or not, but I guess it was. I'm so glad you guys enjoyed it! I'm just going to make a quick reminder, this will be updated every day until Blood of Olympus comes out, so for a while, the plot is going to more ****extremely slow.**** Please don't lose interest! I'm gonna try to make it as realistic as I possibly can, time-wise. And if I miss a day on updating, please feel free to scold me for it. Also, if you guys have anything that you would like to see happen at some point in the fic, feel free to let me know. Anyway, read, review, favorite, alert, and enjoy! **

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_Day 2 _

Nico did not expect for it to happen immediately. That would have been insane. In fact, he didn't really expect for anything to happen at all. But he could at least try. Not try to make a move; that would be selfish, and he tried not to be a selfish person. No, he just wanted Percy to have a friend. And he didn't like seeing Percy sad, because he knew what it felt like to be sad over someone you love. He didn't think that anyone should ever feel that way.

He would not dare tell Percy because Percy would just lash out, but he didn't think that Annabeth was coming back. That was not him being jealous of Annabeth for having Percy; that was him being concerned for Percy's happiness. If Annabeth was simply going away to follow her dream, she would have waited another seven months so that Percy could go with her. But no. That's not what she was trying to do. She was trying to escape the war and everything to do with it. Including Percy. No matter how hard it was for her to leave him, it was harder for her to be here, being constantly reminded of the war they had almost lost. It was understandable, trying to run away from it all. Dealing with the Titan War was enough, but to have to deal with the Giant War too. And she was only seventeen.

Nico was only fourteen, and he had dealt with both. And, if he was being honest with himself, he had thought about running away too. But he hadn't had a stable home since…well, since forever, so he thought maybe he should try to stay here and find a home. So far, in the three long, agonizing months since the war, he still felt like he didn't belong.

He had been important during the war. Not as important as the seven of the prophecy, but he felt like he had had some importance. He, Reyna, and Coach Hedge had shown up at Camp Half-Blood in the midst of a fight, Romans against Greeks, and Nico had fought. But eventually, after long days of fighting, the Romans and Greeks started to realize the real danger of the situation. It was not each other; it was Gaea's army. So, after much debate with that creep Octavian, they had combined forces and fought. Nico had even commanded a group of Greek soldiers. They had looked to him for advice and a plan instead of being afraid of him. And he had been _a hero_. According to Percy and Jason anyway.

But since then, he didn't seem to matter. He understood that people were traumatized; they had seen friends and family die right in front of them. Nico had almost died several times. So yes, he did understand that. But it seemed that the treatment was just the same as it was before the war. He probably wasn't helping matters, though. He still went off on his own at night and stayed in the Hades cabin most of the day. He only came out to go to Annabeth's going-away party and to check on Percy. And that hadn't gone well at all.

He didn't really expect it to, though. Percy was mad that he was stuck here and Annabeth was all the way across the country. He and Annabeth had been attached ever since they started dating. Ever since he first came to the camp, actually. Percy probably didn't really know how to function without Annabeth. And probably, he too knew, deep down, that Annabeth was more than likely not coming back.

So he didn't expect Percy to be in the best of moods. But he would wait for Percy to get better, when he wanted to talk about it. No one else knew that Percy and Annabeth had broken up. But Nico did. He knew because he could read Percy like a book, and he had known yesterday at the party that something was terribly wrong. And the only thing that could destroy Percy like that would be if something had happened with Annabeth.

Percy had done great things. He was a great person. And Nico did not think that he deserved that kind of sadness. But it looked like Percy would have to get control of himself before he would want to talk to anyone about anything.

Nico had planned on avoiding him until he had calmed down. Or maybe avoiding him altogether. What was he doing to himself? What did he think was going to happen now that Annabeth was gone? Did he expect that Percy would end up falling in love with him if he hung around enough? No, of course not. That would be ridiculous. Percy was _straight_. He must not have been thinking when he went to the Poseidon cabin last night. Percy did not want a friend around, especially if that friend was Nico. And Nico did not need to hang out with Percy, knowing that nothing would come of it. That would hurt too much.

So perhaps he needed to avoid him.

He had been away from the camp all night, as he usually was. It was strange. After the war, all he wanted was a stable home, but Camp Half-Blood was hardly a stable home. He still ran off during the night. And last night, all he did was roam around in the darkness all by himself, consumed by his own pessimistic thoughts and self-hatred. Basically just like any other night. He wasn't even sure where he went. He just tried to separate himself from the camp as much as he possibly could. He thought that maybe if he got far enough away, his thoughts might turn to something else, something pleasant or at least something that wasn't so miserable. But no. It seemed the farther he went, the more he thought about Percy, and how he wanted to help but didn't know how to without hurting himself.

When the sun started to rise, he headed back. He didn't like being out in the open during the day. There were too many people around, and large groups of people made him nervous. He planned on hiding out in his small cabin until the sun went down, and then he would leave the camp again and wander around all by himself all night, questioning whether or not anyone bothered to look for him or ask about him wasn't around. He doubted it.

He walked in through the entrance, past the Big House where Chiron was sitting on the porch reading a book in his wheelchair. He didn't even look up from the book as Nico passed by, as if he didn't even notice him. That was fine. Nico was used to that. He continued walking toward the cabins, hoping that he went unnoticed through there as well. The Hades cabin was so far away from the entrance. He hated it. He had to walk past practically all of the other cabins just to get to his so that he could be alone.

He passed the Zeus cabin, where Jason was probably sleeping peacefully, no problems, no worries. The Hera cabin was empty, because she wouldn't dare be unfaithful to her husband. He glanced quickly at the Poseidon cabin, though he knew he shouldn't, and he caught a glimpse of Percy sitting on the porch by himself, which Nico thought was strange. Most people at camp were still asleep at this time. The sun had hardly risen yet. But there was Percy, sitting there with his sword across his lap staring into the distance. His hair was all messed up, and it looked like his eyelids were drooping. He probably hadn't even slept all night. That might have been why his eyes were all red and puffy, but he had probably been crying too.

And that hurt Nico, knowing that Percy had spent the entire night by himself like that, stuck in his thoughts and wallowing in his own misery. He knew it should not be any of his concern, but it was. He did not like seeing Percy in pain, and he wanted to do something to stop it. That's what you were supposed to do for people you love.

Love. That was something that people didn't even know he could do. He was a Hades kid. He was supposed to be cold and hateful. And most of the time, he was. But not when it came to Percy.

He knew he shouldn't be doing this. He knew he should just go straight to his cabin and stay there. But he couldn't. "Percy?" he said, taking a few steps closer to the Poseidon cabin.

Percy looked up at him, like he hadn't even noticed that he was there, and rubbed his eyes. That only seemed to make them look more swollen. He yawned. "You're out early," he said. "I didn't think you came out during the day."

"You know, contrary to popular belief, I'm not afraid of the sun," Nico said. It was meant to be taken lightly, but Percy just stared at him. He frowned. "I've been up all night. I just got back."

Percy kept blinking, like he was trying really hard to keep himself awake. He had been awake longer than this before, but it wasn't the lack of sleep that was making him tired. It was the emotional stress.

"Well, maybe you should get some sleep then," he said, yawning again.

"I'm used to not sleeping," Nico replied. "I think you're the one that needs sleep."

Percy shook his head and started to get up, wobbling a little. Nico took a step forward in case he started to fall, but he managed to catch himself on the door. "I can't sleep," he said. "There's too much to do. Still have to…" He trailed off, staring at the strawberry fields beyond the cabins, and then blinked again, refocusing. "Still have a lot of cleaning up to do around the camp."

"I think the camp can handle itself one day without you," Nico said. "You need rest."

For a moment, Percy's eyes narrowed, and Nico was afraid that he was going to start getting hostile again. But he just shook his head. "No, no. I'm going to help. I'll be fine. I'm fine. I'm really, really…" He paused to rub his eyes again. "I'm fine."

There was no point in arguing with him. Percy always put other people before he put himself. "Okay," Nico said. "Just let me know if you need any help."

Percy nodded and opened the door to the Poseidon cabin, and Nico started toward the Hades cabin. But Percy called his name again, and he turned back around.

Percy looked hesitant, like he was trying to figure out why he had even called for him in the first place, and he frowned. "Just so you know, Annabeth and I didn't _really _break up. _Technically_, we're still together."

Nico nodded, trying to remain passive, like the topic didn't bother him. He didn't think it was working. "Okay. And I wish you the best of luck." That was a lie. Well, not really. He wanted Percy to be happy, and if Annabeth made him happy…but right now, it seemed like Annabeth was destroying him.

"It'll be exactly the same," Percy said. "It'll be just like she's actually here. We'll Iris-message all the time, and maybe she'll come and visit. And in a few months, I can move to California and we can go to school together. We can start a life together."

"Yeah," Nico said, nodding. "It'll be fine. It'll be like she's not even gone."

"She said we're on a break. That doesn't mean breaking up, right? Not technically, right?"

Nico didn't answer. He really didn't know what Annabeth had meant by that. And the more Percy talked, the more pathetic and helpless he sounded, which was hurting Nico terribly. Percy was supposed to be this great hero with an even better attitude that kept his friends laughing and in good spirits, but he was being reduced to nothing. Because of Annabeth. Because she had to get away from the war and everything to do with it. Because she wanted to start a new life.

"We're still together. She's coming back soon to visit. She's going to Iris-message me today, I just know it."

"I'm sure she will."

"She's going to call. She wouldn't forget. And seven months isn't even that long. Nothing's going to change between now and then. She still loves me."

He was like a child. Nico had never seen Percy this way. He was supposed to be strong and brave. "She does," he told him, trying to keep his voice level. "And you still love her."

Percy nodded. "Yeah…yeah, I do." He looked out at the strawberry fields again, then down at the ground, and then back up at Nico. "She's going to Iris-message me today. She has to. To let me know that she's okay."

Nico sighed. "Percy, are you trying to convince me, or are you trying to convince yourself?"

Percy didn't answer.

"She just left yesterday," Nico said. "Give her time."

"Time," Percy repeated, like he didn't fully comprehend the word, and then slowly, he nodded. "Right. Just give her some time." He released the door handle and started to walk down the steps toward Nico, but then he hesitated and finally decided on standing on the middle step. "Um…thanks. And…" He ran a hand through his already-messy hair, messing it up even more. "Um…I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to lash out at you or anything."

"It's okay," Nico said. "I understand."

For a moment, they stood there and stared at each other. Nico shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to hide the fact that they were shaking and as each second ticked by, he grew increasingly nervous. The sun was up now, and it was casting a wonderful glow on Percy and making his sea green eyes shine brighter. They looked like the ocean, different colors mixing together like waves crashing into the shore. But they were filled with so much sadness and grief, with just a little hope, and it made Nico wish that Annabeth hadn't left and destroyed Percy like this. Or that Annabeth and Percy had never been together at all.

But that was selfish of him to wish things like that. Annabeth had made Percy happy for a time, no matter how hard it was for Nico to admit that. And maybe she would continue to make him happy. But it didn't seem like she would.

Percy cleared his throat. "I should get ready. Everyone will be waking up soon."

"Right," Nico said. "And I think I'm going to go take a nap."

Percy nodded and headed back to the open door. Nico turned and started to walk toward the Hades cabin once again, somewhat hoping that Percy would call him back and ask him to stay. But he heard the door click, and he knew that Percy had no more interest in him.

Annabeth was gone. Nico knew that. He just wondered how long it would take for Percy to realize that, and how long it would take for him to be happy again.


	3. Day 3

**Thank you guys so much for the reviews! Oh my gosh, I didn't think that many people would be interested in this, but thank you guys so much. So in one of the comments, somebody said that they weren't sure if I should do one of these for every day, and I have to say, I couldn't agree more. First of all, because it would get really long and really boring. Second of all, because it takes a whole lot of time to write these and I don't have time to work on my other fics or the book I'm writing. And third of all, because these chapters are ending up a whole lot longer than I intended them to be. Sorry about that. So from here on out, don't expect a chapter every day. Maybe every two or three days. And also, I'm going to be skipping a few days in the story line as well, so don't be surprised if the next chapter is like, day seven or something. Don't worry, I plan on this having a lot of chapters. Like, 75-100, maybe, but definitely not 325. So yeah. After today, I'll be skipping around. **

**Also, in another review, someone suggested that I should write Clarisse in here somewhere. Don't worry, she'll be here sooner or later. Just have to get through the initial sadness first. It's not going to be all sad, I promise! **

**Wow. That author's note is longer than I meant for it to be. I'm just gonna stop now. I hope you guys enjoy! **

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_Day 3_

Annabeth did not Iris-message Percy yesterday, as he had convinced himself that she would. He had helped with the clean-up effort at the sword-fighting arena for most of the day, but when he got little breaks, he went back to his cabin and sat on his bed, waiting for Annabeth to call. But she never did.

That night, when everyone had gone to bed, Percy used the fountain beside his bed to try and make a call to Annabeth. Each time he tried, the call didn't go through, but his drachmas disappeared. Each time it was the same result, but he just kept trying until he ran out of drachmas and could make no more calls. It was like Annabeth was receiving the message, but she was dismissing it before it even went through. But Percy knew she wouldn't do that. She wouldn't ignore him if he was trying to get in contact with her.

Or maybe she was. After all, it had only been two days, and maybe she just needed some space. That was fine.

Still, he hardly slept that night. He was too busy worrying about the worst possible outcome in this situation, that perhaps Annabeth did mean "breaking up," and maybe she didn't want to talk to him ever again. And that hurt.

He was pretty sure he only got about an hour of sleep, but he got up the next morning anyway and went to the dining pavilion for breakfast. He was running a little late, because almost every single table was filled up. The Poseidon table was empty, as it usually was, since he was the only one at camp. Except for Tyson, when he showed up. But he wasn't here.

The Zeus table, however, was occupied. Jason was on one side with Piper sitting right next to him, and Leo was across the table sitting next to Grover and Rachel, which Percy thought was strange. Rachel hardly ever came out to hang out with the demigods. But she looked like she was enjoying herself. In fact, they all looked incredibly happy to be in each other's company. So he decided to sit with all of them. Being around them would be better than being alone.

He slid in next to Piper, who glanced over at him and then gasped. The mood dropped at the table, and tension rose. Every single person's eyes were on him, and it made him really uncomfortable.

"Percy, you look rough," Leo said.

"_Leo," _Piper said, shooting a glare in Leo's direction, but then she turned her attention back to Percy and asked, "What's going on? You look like you haven't slept in days."

Percy shook his head. He had come over here to laugh and be happy, not to be grilled about his love life. "I'm fine," he said. "I've just been busy."

Piper's face softened, and she placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, though it wasn't much of a comfort. "Have you been thinking about Annabeth? Don't worry about it. Long-distance relationships work out sometimes. And I know you and Annabeth are going to be okay. You always are, right? Besides, she said last night that everything was okay and she was going to try to stay in touch with everyone-"

Percy tensed. Last night? She said that last night, when Percy was trying so hard to Iris-message her and it wasn't going through? He looked up at Piper, and she removed her hand from his shoulder, immediately knowing that something was wrong.

"Um…" she said nervously, biting her lip and glancing at Jason for assistance. He shrugged. "You didn't talk to her last night?"

"No," Percy answered, trying to keep his voice level. "You did?"

The tension at the table now was almost too much. Rachel quickly excused herself, and Grover was nibbling on a soda can, which is what he usually did when he felt nervous. Leo tried to run away, but Jason stopped him.

"Only for a minute," Piper said. "If it makes you feel any better, she seemed like she didn't really want to talk. She just told me that she was okay, and then-"

"Yeah, but she still messaged you," Percy growled.

He must have looked pretty frightening, because Piper was trying her hardest to scoot away from him, and she was about to knock Jason out of his seat. Percy blinked, took in a deep breath, and then looked at Piper again. She was not the one that he was mad at. He was not going to take the anger out on her. It was not her fault that Annabeth had messaged her and not him. The question was, why had she messaged Piper and not him? After all they had been through together…

"I'm sorry," Percy said, getting up from the table. "I didn't mean to get mad. I just…I think I'm going to go back to my cabin for a little while…"

Now they all looked like they felt sorry for him, which was, in a way, worse than them being afraid of him. He didn't want anyone's pity. There was nothing for them to pity. Everything was fine. Everything was perfectly, perfectly fine.

He had never been this angry before. It was strange how Annabeth had brought him nothing but happiness for years, and now that she was gone, he was grumpier and moodier than he had ever been before. Because of her. Because she said that they were on a break, which Percy now saw was a way for her to say that they needed to break up. She wasn't saying that they needed a break from seeing each other all the time. No, she had meant that it was over. She was ending it. But he didn't understand why.

He got back to the Poseidon cabin, where he planned on retrieving his sword and then heading down to the arena, and found that Nico was lurking around in the commons, close to the Zeus cabin. Percy sighed in irritation. It was like, for the past three days, he couldn't go anywhere without seeing Nico unless he retreated inside his cabin.

"Do you just spend all of your time lurking around my cabin?" he asked.

Nico looked up, not even noticing that Percy had appeared. Percy hadn't meant to sound as harsh as he did, but apparently it made Nico mad, because his eyes narrowed into a glare and his lip curled into a snarl.

"Don't flatter yourself," he said. "I was waiting on Jason."

Percy frowned, and he looked away from him. He considered Nico to be a friend, but he was still a little wary of him. Nico had a whole lot more power than people gave him credit for, and sometimes he was downright terrifying.

"This is the second time I've seen you out during the day," Percy said as he opened the door to his cabin and grabbed the sword resting just inside. It was not Riptide, but it would be good enough.

"Yes, and this is at least the second time you've decided to attack me, so I guess you still haven't figured out who you should be angry at," Nico said.

"I know who I'm angry at, and it's not you," Percy replied. "I'm sorry."

Nico frowned, like he wasn't sure if he was going to accept that apology, but then he nodded. "Yeah, you should be. But I'm sorry too. For lurking. I was just…concerned, I guess."

"Why?" Percy asked, raising an eyebrow. Nico had never been concerned about him before. Why should it matter now?

Nico shrugged. "I don't know. I guess because I don't feel like anyone should have to feel so sad over someone they love. I know how it feels, I guess, and-" He stopped himself and looked down at the ground. "What are you planning on doing with that sword?"

Percy didn't answer immediately. He just stared at Nico for a few seconds, wondering what he could possibly be talking about. He had never fully understood how Nico functioned. He was just so strange and reserved. No one could really figure him out. And here he was, confessing that he had experienced some sort of heartbreak, which Percy had never even thought about. He just thought that Nico was a complete loner and didn't really like anyone.

Well, except Annabeth. He knew that Nico liked Annabeth. According to Piper, anyway. Maybe that's what he was talking about.

"The arena," he finally answered. "I just really feel like destroying something right now." He paused, and then said, "You can come if you want to. I mean…if you don't have anything else to do."

Nico nodded. "Okay, yeah. I'll come. Just as long as you don't try to destroy me."

Was Nico smiling? No, not quite, but he looked a whole lot happier than Percy had ever seen him before. It was a little strange seeing his dark eyes light up and the corner of his mouth turn up into a half-smile, but he didn't question it. He was just glad to see that maybe, just maybe, Nico was capable of actually being happy.

…

"So why are you mad today?" Nico asked, and then, after a pause, added, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

Percy frowned. He really didn't want to talk about it, but maybe it would feel better if he did. "I haven't heard from Annabeth," he replied. He tried to fight back the anger that was trying to claw its way to the surface, but he wasn't much succeeding. "But Piper has."

Nico didn't say anything, which, strangely enough, Percy appreciated. The silence was better than pity. He didn't want people to feel sorry for him and pat him on the shoulder and tell him that everything was going to be okay and maybe him and Annabeth would work out in the future or maybe he would find someone else. He didn't want to hear any of that. He just wanted to do something physical to take his mind off of everything. Maybe if he kept himself distracted, he wouldn't think as much. And not thinking was good.

They were sitting in the arena, which was halfway destroyed from the war. There was rubble and debris everywhere, and it had hardly been used in the past several months. Half of the arena had collapsed inward, and there were scorch marks from fires all over the place. Still, there was a small area available that people sometimes used, and a few practice dummies with monstrous faces were set up with shields and fake swords. They weren't the best way to practice, but they would do.

"Have you tried contacting her?" Nico asked.

Percy tensed and looked away from Nico. He started to polish his sword, even though there was no point. It was already scuffed up, and it would probably just get even more scuffed up in a few minutes. "Yeah. All night last night. Used all my drachmas up. I think she was ignoring me." He hesitated, but he felt like he should ask. "Have you?"

"No," Nico answered a little defensively. "Why would I?"

Percy shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought because…" He trailed off. He probably would have been able to tell if Nico had a crush on Annabeth, and it didn't really seem like he did. Piper must have gotten her facts mixed up. "Never mind."

Nico was silent again, so silent that Percy had to look up just to make sure that he hadn't disappeared or something. But then, after a moment, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a few drachmas, holding them out to Percy.

"You should try to call her again," he said.

Percy eyed the golden coins for a moment, reached for them, and then shook his head. He didn't need to take Nico's money. And he didn't need to be trying to call Annabeth. Obviously she didn't want to talk to him.

"Thanks, Nico, but I'm okay," he said.

He got up from where he was sitting and walked over to the practice dummies. There were about twelve of them, all torn and beaten from the Ares and Hermes kids, who came down here the most. He knocked one of the swords down, and then a shield, and stabbed the sword into the dummy's stomach. Stuffing fell out everywhere. And then, as he ripped the sword out and attacked again, the anger started to rise closer and closer to the surface. He swung, slicing the dummy completely in half and then chopping off its head.

He was almost completely blinded by rage. And from exhaustion. He was so incredibly tired and hungry and mad and upset that he wasn't even thinking straight. He just kept swinging his sword and stabbing at the dummies until he could feel sweat dripping down his face, and his whole body was aching, but he didn't stop.

He didn't even stop as Nico started screaming his name, telling him to calm down. He was only forced to stop when he felt Nico's hand on his shoulder and his sword was ripped from his grip and thrown to the ground. He reached for it, prepared to attack again, but Nico kicked it out of his reach.

"Percy, stop," he said firmly. "You're mad. And I'm glad you're taking it out on the practice dummies instead of me, but I think that's enough."

Percy blinked and looked around at the arena. It was an even bigger mess than it had been when they came down here. Every single one of the practice dummies was ripped limb from limb, torn into shreds, the stuffing scattered everywhere. Completely destroyed, which is exactly what he had come down here for.

The sight made his anger fade away, and instead it was just replaced with intense sadness. Annabeth _had _broken up with him and then moved away, and she did not want to talk to him. After all that they had been through together.

He had been attacked time and time again. He had been on the verge of death more times than he could count. But none of that hurt as much as this did. He collapsed to his knees as a sob escaped from his lips and tears started to fall down his face.

_You're weak, Percy. Stop crying over a girl, Percy. You're supposed to be a hero, Percy. _He expected Nico to say something along those lines, but he didn't. That was Percy's judgment on himself.

Instead, Nico sat down on the ground next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder and didn't say anything, and Percy buried his face in Nico's shoulder and cried until he could not cry anymore.


	4. Day 10

**Wow. I don't know if the website has a glitch or what, but it took me forever to get to this point. I've been meaning to post all week, but between school work, Catching Fire, and Doctor Who 50th anniversary, that just wasn't going to happen. So I hope this is okay for such a long wait. Please tell me what you think! **

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_Day 10_

Nico didn't know which was worse: seeing Percy and Annabeth together and completely happy, knowing that he had absolutely no chance with Percy; or seeing Percy and Annabeth broken up, Percy completely miserable, and still knowing that he had absolutely no chance. He supposed the latter was worse, because now, he wasn't the only one feeling the sadness. Now, Percy was completely miserable too.

He didn't like seeing Percy cry. Percy had always been so strong, and when Nico was afraid or doubtful during the wars, he looked to Percy for strength and assurance, but that was gone now. When Percy had cried in the arena in front of him seven days ago, he wondered how long it would take before the pain and the misery would go away, and he wondered how Annabeth could live with herself, knowing that she had left him in this state when she walked out of his life.

Nico would never do that to him. Although he had walked out several times in the past, making Percy question if they were on the same side or not. But that had been fixed. Percy trusted him again. Or, it seemed like it. He had cried in front of him.

They hadn't spoken since then. Not that Nico hadn't tried. He didn't want to constantly hang around, because he thought that it might look a little suspicious. Not wanting to have anything to do with Percy while Annabeth was around, but now suddenly interested. Then again, Percy wasn't the smartest person in the world. He probably wouldn't notice. But Jason knew. And how long before he cracked and told someone else? He liked Jason, but that didn't mean he trusted him. And the Aphrodite cabin. They would definitely figure something out.

And besides, Percy needed his space. Annabeth was a large part of his life.

It seemed, though, since Percy had cried in front of him in the arena, he was actually _trying _to avoid Nico. But maybe Nico was just imagining that.

He gave Percy a week of space, a week during which he shadow-traveled in between here, his father's domain, and Camp Jupiter to visit Hazel. It was nice, spending time with Hazel. She and Frank seemed happy with each other and happy with life, despite losing friends and a good bit of their camp in the war. He thought for a fleeting moment, while he was at Camp Jupiter, that he might tell Hazel how he felt about Percy, his dirty little secret. He just wanted someone to give him advice or tell him that he was insane or tell him that everything was going to be okay, and who better to do that than his sister?

But he didn't tell her. Because he was afraid. She would not understand.

Nico was almost tempted to pop in and check on Annabeth during his time in California, to see what she was doing that she thought was more important than talking to Percy. But he didn't. He didn't want to know what she was doing, and he didn't really care.

After a week of traveling in and out of Camp Half-Blood, keeping himself distracted for the most part, he settled back down, and he immediately noticed that there was something different. For one, the camp seemed to be cleaned up a little more, and everyone seemed to be in higher spirits. And that was including Percy. His cabin door was shut and locked, and the lights were out, but he was not inside feeling sorry for himself, like he had been. He was out and about doing regular camp activities with other people.

Nico decided that if Percy was in a better mood, perhaps it would be okay to try to talk to him again. He wondered what had suddenly changed his mood and made it do a complete U-turn. So he had to find out.

Maybe Percy would move on from Annabeth. But it was ridiculous for Nico to think that it would ever be him that Percy moved on to.

He found Percy at the stables later on that day, when the activities were kind of winding down and people were getting ready for dinner. Percy was feeding one of the pegasi an apple and talking to it, like they were actually holding a conversation. Nico sometimes forgot that Percy could talk to horses. It was strange, only hearing half of the conversation. It sounded like Percy was giving the pegasus some relationship advice. Pegasi having relationship problems. That was also strange.

He didn't want to interrupt, especially since he was afraid his presence might bring Percy's mood down, but he wanted to know how Percy was doing.

"Percy?" he said.

Percy jumped and turned around to face him. The pegasus turned his eyes on him as well. "Geez, Nico. Do you always move around so quietly?"

Nico shrugged. "Like a shadow, I guess. Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I was just wondering how you were doing."

Percy frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm fine. Annabeth IM'ed. She explained everything to me, told me that she was planning on calling, but she didn't think she could do it because she was afraid it would make her sad. She told me she needed some time on her own to think, and she didn't want me to wait around for her. So here I am, not waiting on her. Trying to move on. I'm fine. How are you?"

Nico didn't know, because he had never dated anyone, but he knew that the first love was the hardest to get over. Percy had been the first person that he ever liked, and he still wasn't over it. In fact, he was probably never going to get over it, because he kept torturing himself by running back to Percy and hoping for something to change. But he knew that first loves were hard. And he knew that when Percy said, "I'm fine," he was lying. He was really, really far from fine. But he was trying to cover it up, for the sake of the people around him, and for the sake of himself, so that he could get things done. He was good at that.

"I'm good," Nico said with another shrug, though he was never good. There was always something wrong, something that he would never be able to talk to anyone else about.

"Great," Percy replied, shoving his hands in his pockets and rocking back and forth on his feet. It was silent for a few moments before he spoke again. "I'm not very good at small talk. Are you hungry? I'm starving. We should go get something to eat."

"Um…okay," Nico said. "I think dinner's about to start-"

"Away from camp, if that's okay," Percy said. "I mean, not that I don't love the food here, but I kind of want to get away from camp for a little while. It's been a while since I've been in the city."

"Okay," Nico said a little nervously. "Um…just…just the two of us?"

Percy nodded, like this didn't bother him at all. He didn't see anything wrong with the picture. Just two friends having dinner together. That's all it was, after all. Nico wished that that was all it was to him.

"Yeah, is that a problem?" Percy asked. "What? You don't want to have dinner with me?"

He was just joking, of course. He wasn't actually offended. And of course, Nico did want to go with him. But going together to eat…away from camp…alone…

"That's fine," he said. "We can go. Anything to get away from here."

Percy looked confused, but he smiled. "You just got back. Trying to run away again so soon?" He shook his head. "So what? Are you up for shadow-traveling?"

"Um…I guess," Nico replied, pushing his hair out of his eyes and smiling a little. "Are you just using me for my shadow-travel abilities?"

"Totally," Percy said, rolling his eyes. "No, I just don't want to go alone."

Nico looked down at the ground, not meeting Percy's eyes, and held out his hand. "You have to take my hand," he murmured, "so I can carry both of us."

"Oh," Percy said, frowning. "Right. Right, yeah."

Now he looked a little awkward and nervous. He took Nico's hand, and Nico tried to keep himself from shaking or tensing up or sweating. He closed his eyes, concentrating, and he felt the shadows melt around him, consuming him. And when he opened his eyes, they were on the sidewalk, somewhere in the middle of New York City, with the sun starting to set behind the skyscrapers.

He knew where he was, but it was a little disorienting. He hadn't grown up here like Percy had, so he still wasn't entirely sure of how to navigate around the city. Luckily, Percy did, and he took off down the sidewalk, plunging right into the sea of people in front of him, and Nico followed after him.

Percy stopped at the end of the block, where there was a small café with hardly anyone inside, and he turned to face Nico. "This place looks like your regular, sketchy, unsanitary New York City restaurant. Let's go in."

That was fine with Nico. The less people around, the better. Big crowds made him feel uncomfortable. Percy threw open the door, and Nico followed him in. The old men sitting in the booths turned to look at him, scowling, and the cook in the kitchen grunted. The waitress rolled her eyes, but Percy didn't seem at all like he was bothered. He just sat down in one of the booths and picked up a menu like he came here regularly, so comfortable with everywhere that he went.

"What are you getting?" Percy asked, before Nico could even sit down and get situated.

"I'm not getting anything," Nico replied. "Not hungry."

Percy looked up at him from over his menu. "You never eat. Go ahead and get something. I'll pay."

"No," Nico said, shaking his head. "I'm fine." He wasn't sure, since he had never been on a date, but he was pretty sure that if Percy paid for his food, this could qualify as one.

Percy laid his menu down and looked up just as the waitress walked over to them. She couldn't have been more than sixteen, and she looked irritated and bored out of her mind being here. She glared at Percy and pulled out her notepad. "What can I get you?" she asked, her voice low and harsh.

"I want a Coke and a hamburger," Percy answered, shooting a glance at Nico. "And so does he."

"No, I'm fine," Nico tried to protest, looking up at the waitress. She looked at him and then at Percy, pursed her lips tightly together and narrowed her eyes, and then walked away.

Before he could say anything to Percy, Percy asked, "So why do you hate Camp Half-Blood so much?"

"What?" Nico said, raising an eyebrow. "I don't hate it. I just…" He shook his head. "Never mind."

"You just what?"

Nico sighed. He really didn't feel like talking about his personal problems. No one would understand, least of all, Percy. "I just don't feel like I fit in there," he said.

Percy's face contorted in confusion. "Why? Of course you fit in. You're just like all the rest of us. Except you're…" He frowned.

"I'm a son of Hades?" Nico suggested.

Percy shrugged and looked away. "Yeah. But I mean, I was the only Poseidon kid for a while. There might be someone else-"

"There was someone else," Nico said. "Bianca."

The room suddenly felt ten times colder. He frowned. He didn't mean to bring up his sister. He didn't even mean to get on this topic. Bianca was the last person he wanted to talk about right now. And he didn't mean to sound so harsh. He most definitely did not still blame Percy for that. But the hurt look on Percy's face showed that the comment had made him feel guilty all over again.

"I'm sorry," Nico said. "I didn't mean to say anything about her. It's not your fault."

Percy frowned. "But it kind of is, and there's nothing I can do to make up for that."

Nico sighed. This was what was standing in between them. It was partly Annabeth, but it was mostly Bianca. Nico had forgiven Percy for the incident with his sister, because he knew that Percy would never let anyone get harmed intentionally, but Percy would never forgive himself for it.

"I don't…" He tried to think of something to say, anything, but there was nothing he could think to say that he hadn't already told Percy. So he just frowned and looked away.

"I think you should try getting involved in camp activities more often," Percy said. "It might help you…feel a little better."

Nico shrugged. "I prefer being on my own. People don't like being around me."

There was a long silence before Percy spoke. "I don't mind being around you." Nico looked up at him, and he continued. "I mean, at first I didn't think you really liked me. I still don't…"

Nico laughed dryly and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, if only it were that simple."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Nico hadn't really realized that he had said that out loud, and when he looked across from him, seeing the look of confusion on Percy's face, he felt like he was going to be sick. This was not ever going to happen. They were friends. That was it. That was all it was ever going to be. He had to accept that.

Thankfully, he didn't have to explain himself. The waitress came back with their drinks and their food, which did not look appetizing at all. As she set the food down in front of Nico, she looked at him and smiled a little, and he looked away from her. As she walked away, he looked back up at Percy, who was grinning like an idiot, but he didn't understand why.

"What?" he asked.

"You don't think people like you? She seemed to like you okay," Percy said, taking a bite of his hamburger. He grimaced, but he chewed it anyway. "I've never seen you even look at a girl. You should talk to her after you eat your disgusting burger."

Nico frowned down at his plate, and then looked up at the waitress, standing behind the counter. No one had ever shown the least bit of interest in him. Maybe that girl had just completely lost her mind. And she didn't know him. She knew nothing about him. If she did, she would probably never even cross his path.

"I don't think so," he said. "Not interested."

"Not interested?" Percy asked in surprise. "Why? She's pretty, I guess. Not anything like Annabeth, but she's okay. And she smiled at you. You should just talk to her. You can't hide forever. You have to get out there and talk to people."

"I don't want to," Nico replied, starting to feel a little irritated. He didn't want to be on this topic much either. "I'm not interested."

"But why not? You haven't shown any interest in anyone-"

"Percy! Leave it, okay? I don't want to talk to her. I just…" He sighed, trying to calm himself down. It was not Percy's fault. He just wasn't smart. He didn't understand.

"Okay," Percy said, frowning and looking down at the table.

They didn't talk much at all for the rest of dinner.


	5. Day 16

**Wow. So firstly, I want to apologize for this being so long. I didn't really intend on including all of this in this chapter. Secondly, I want to announce that after this week, I'll be out of school for a month, so that means more updates! Yaaaaay! Thirdly, I would like to point out that I am so, so sorry about this chapter. I really did not mean for it to come out like this, but it just came to me, and I thought it might make it a little more realistic. I'm just warning, there are a couple of derogatory terms in here. So, I'm sorry. Trying to make it a little more realistic. Not all chapters are going to be like this, promise. Things will lighten up soon, I swear. Finally, I want to thank all of you for favoriting, reviewing, and adding this to your alerts! You guys are awesome! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, even though...well, you'll see. **

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_Day 16_

Nico did not want to get involved in camp activities. Everywhere he went, it seemed that people still shunned him, like he was some sort of monster or a disease. Everyone had liked him for a moment there during the war, when he was commanding some of the campers and his own ghost army. They had thought he was a hero. But he didn't like the attention; he just tolerated it. Now, though, he wished that he could go back to when people were celebrating his hard work and paying far too much attention to him. Or, he wished that they didn't know he existed. Anything was better than the looks that people were giving him, the same looks they had always given him. _You're a son of Hades. Why would we want to be around you? _

That was basically how it was everywhere he went. He was different in every single way, an outsider. He would never belong at Camp Half-Blood.

That's why he stayed in his cabin most of the time. He preferred being alone, yes, but he didn't choose to be alone _all the time_. But that's how it was. He was forced to sit in here by himself, because no one wanted him around. People always thought that he was strange and creepy, and they were _afraid of him_. Afraid of what he could do to them. As if he killed people, because he liked communing with the dead. As if, because sometimes he spoke to dead people, he liked all of his friends to be dead. That's all they saw when they looked at him. _Necromancy. _That's what they thought he did. Just him, not the Hecate kids. Sure, they weren't the favorites around camp, but they were higher up the list than Nico was. Because they were _not alone_.

So he stayed in his cabin during the day and left during the night, just as he had always done, before both wars. No camp activities for him.

However, that plan didn't seem to be fitting in with Percy's ideas.

Nico had forgiven him for the dinner situation. After all, Percy didn't know anything about his deep, dark secret. It wasn't terribly obvious, Nico hoped, but still, even if it was, Percy would probably be the last person at camp to figure it out. Percy couldn't help that his intelligence levels were less than average. So Nico had forgiven him.

He did not know if this would be forgiven as easily, though.

As usual, he was in his cabin, when there was a knock at the door. No one ever came to visit him, so he could only assume that it was Chiron, Jason, or Percy. He liked Percy, but he wasn't exactly fond of the idea of Percy coming around as often as he did. It was like Percy was just looking for someone to use momentarily until he could get over Annabeth. Then, when he had recovered, he would move on to another girl, and Nico would still be left here, all alone, still completely in love with Percy Jackson, as stupid as he may be. He was a rebound, it seemed, but not even in a romantic way. Just a way to keep Percy distracted. So Nico really hoped that it was Jason or Chiron at the door.

It was not. Percy stood at the door carrying a sword and a helmet, while behind him, other campers were making their way to the woods. The sun was starting to set, which meant that it was almost the usual time when Nico left camp to roam around by himself for a little while, but it was also almost time for capture the flag. And Nico could tell by the ridiculous grin on Percy's face what was being suggested.

"No," he said, before Percy could even say anything.

Percy's smile immediately fell. "What? Why not? It's fun! Capture the flag is one of my favorite things to do at camp! I think you would enjoy it too, if you came and played."

Nico looked behind Percy at all the people, specifically the Ares cabin, who looked much too excited for a game that got so close to the wars that had traumatized them all. Still, they were the war god's kids. They got over it and kept fighting. Clarisse was at the front of the group, already shouting orders and getting everyone pumped for the game. Though she had softened considerably over the years, she was still terrifying.

"I don't think so," he said. "I've never played before. I would be pretty useless. And besides, I was just about to leave-"

"You can play on my team," Percy suggested. "I usually guard the flag. You can stay with me."

He seemed so desperate, and Nico didn't understand why. Percy was seriously the most popular person at camp, and yet, here he was, standing at Nico's door and begging him to come and play a stupid game with him. It didn't seem right. This wouldn't be happening if Annabeth were here. Percy would be so consumed with her that it would be as if Nico didn't exist. He was just a mere distraction, to keep Percy from thinking about Annabeth.

"You have other friends," Nico said. "Get Jason to play with you."

"He already is," Percy said. "And I want you to…_we _want you to come and play with us. You shouldn't be in here by yourself."

"It's okay, though," Nico said. "I'm used to it. Go and have fun."

"But you can have fun too…"

Percy was starting to look like a lost puppy, which was something that he did quite often when he didn't get his way. And Nico hated him for it because he was susceptible to it, and there was no way of turning him down. Nico usually liked to appear as if he could resist anything, but he had never been able to handle Percy and his stupid face whenever he decided to look sad and dejected.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll go with you. And I'll play this one game. But don't come back and ask me again after tonight."

Percy smiled as Nico pulled the door shut and started to walk toward the crowd of campers. "See, this is good. We should have started hanging out sooner than this. We could have been even better friends than we are now."

Yeah, friends. That was the way to describe it. Percy was still hopelessly in love with Annabeth, and Nico was still in love with Percy. That wasn't going to change anytime soon.

And what made them friends now? Because Percy could manipulate Nico into doing whatever he wanted, because Nico was hopelessly in love with him and would probably do anything, just so long as Percy was okay and happy? Because Annabeth wasn't here? Because Percy didn't know anything about Nico? If he did, he would probably not want to be friends anymore. Nico was just a distraction. Percy would soon forget about him and move on to something else.

He didn't say anything at all to Percy on the way to the forest.

…

"Jackson, I'm gonna crush you like a grape."

That was Clarisse, and, as terrifying as she was, Nico couldn't help rolling his eyes at her. She took these games far too seriously, so therefore, Nico couldn't really take her seriously.

The teams were basically the same as they had always been, except that the newer campers were added into the mix now. Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, Hermes, and now Hades, Hecate, Iris, and Tyche; the other team was Dionysus, Demeter, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Zeus, Nyx, and Nemesis. Percy commanded the first team, and Clarisse commanded the other. Most of the time, they didn't usually have conflict, just friendly banter, but when it came to capture the flag, Clarisse was vicious, and Percy got far too competitive.

"Yeah?" Percy said in reply to Clarisse's threat. "I'm not afraid of you, Clarisse. Bring. It. On."

They were practically nose-to-nose glaring at each other, and Nico sighed and looked around him to see if anyone else was bothered by this behavior. It was just a game. But apparently, no one else was even paying attention, because this was a weekly event. Percy and Clarisse were just naturally going to turn into enemies when they stepped foot into the forest.

The insults were getting harsher, turning from things like "pig" and "jerk" to "bitch" and "asshole." Not that it bothered Nico, but he was highly concerned that they would end up killing each other before the game even started.

"Percy?" he said, as calmly as he could, stepping in between the two of them. "Can you run the plan through to me again? Just to make sure that I've got it?"

Percy looked up at him and blinked, his face contorted in anger, but he softened, and then blinked, like he was confused about Nico's presence. "Right, yeah. Sure. We need to make sure that we win tonight, which _we will_." He shot a glare in Clarisse's direction, and she flipped him off.

But she, like Percy, was staring at Nico like she didn't even know he had been there. That was one of the many talents of a son of Hades, blending right into the shadows, becoming invisible.

"Well, I see that you finally got him out of his cabin," she said. "Not that it'll help you much, because you're still going to _lose_." She looked at Nico and added, "No offense," like she thought that he was going to lash out at her.

Is that what he had done? Had he made people think that he had a terrible temper, that he would attack someone if they so much as looked at him the wrong way? Well, he wasn't like that. Didn't he have good reason to run away, to attack Percy the way that he had so many years ago? Weren't his actions justified?

No, because no one understood him. No one would ever try, and he was okay with that, because he didn't want to let anyone in. They could think what they wanted to.

There was no time for Percy to explain the game plan to Nico again. Chiron appeared, with his quiver strapped over his shoulder, and examined the campers carefully, to make sure that all of their items were magical and couldn't harm each other seriously, and he made sure that everyone was wearing proper armor. After the Giant War, they were being a whole lot more careful at the camp. Chiron didn't want anyone else getting hurt if it wasn't necessary, and it wasn't considered necessary in a game of capture the flag. Once he was sure that everyone was going to be safe, he blew his conch horn, and the teams split up, to go wherever it was that their team captains had told them to go.

Nico followed Percy. They were supposed to be guarding the flag together. However, it proved to be difficult to keep up with Percy, because Percy had much more experience in capture the flag than Nico did. Nico had fought before, but he had never worn armor or anything whilst fighting. It was heavy, and it was making him run slower, and his helmet was too big and kept slipping over his eyes, obstructing his vision. He was used to the darkness, and the hellhounds growling behind the trees weren't a problem at all for him. However, he wasn't too fond of the rest of the game, knowing that campers were out there with magical weapons, waiting to strike. Especially Clarisse. She was probably brutal in a fight. But then again, she looked like she was afraid of him.

The flag was displayed where it could be seen, tied to the branch of a tree. No one else was around, that Nico knew of. He kept his eyes on the trees, worried that someone might jump down and attack suddenly. Percy didn't seem at all concerned, though. He was walking around casually, ten yards away from the flag, as he was supposed to be according to the rules, swinging his sword around and humming to himself, which was cute, and Nico hated himself for thinking so.

"My best bet is that they have Clarisse coming for the flag," Percy said, turning around to face Nico. "They would assume that I'm going for their flag. They might send Jason, because he's a pretty good fighter. I don't know, though."

Clarisse and Jason were not very good options for fighting against. Clarisse was probably far more brutal in a fight, and Nico was sure to lose against her, but he thought he might prefer her to Jason. His and Jason's relationship was awkward, for lack of a better word, and he had been attempting to avoid Jason at all costs, especially since he and Percy had been hanging out more frequently.

"You know, Annabeth and I used to guard together," Percy said. "She was always really good at devising strategies. She could always picture things in her head, and she was so good at figuring the other team's plan out."

Despite himself, Nico rolled his eyes. Thankfully, the darkness hid his annoyance. He didn't even mean to get irritated at the mention of Annabeth's name, but he hated knowing that he was never going to be anywhere near as good as Annabeth. No one was ever going to be as good as Annabeth.

No, he had to prove that he could be good as well. He was far more than anyone gave him credit for.

Or not. Perhaps he was just Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, a misplaced, outcast child with no one to turn to and nowhere to run.

"Perhaps they won't send Clarisse or Jason," he suggested. "Clarisse will be guarding, because they'll need their very best close to the flag. That means Jason won't be far away from it either. So Clarisse is probably sending a large group of decent fighters, possibly Ares kids, to fight the two of us."

"Which is why I have Apollo kids in the trees watching out for the other team," Percy said. "That's a good point. That does seem like something…Clarisse…might do…"

And suddenly, he froze. Nico watched his whole body tense, and in the pale light of the moon, he could see his sea green eyes scanning the area. It was silent for a long moment, but Nico could sense it too. Someone was there, hiding in the darkness. It could be one person, or it could be a dozen, he couldn't be sure. But someone was definitely there. He felt surrounded, and he raised his blade, listening for any sound of movement. But there was none. Just the wind.

"Nico," Percy whispered, "Go around that tree over there and see if you can find anyone. I'll go the opposite way. Don't go too far, or they might get the flag."

Nico nodded and circled around the tree that Percy was referring to. He could hear the hellhounds and all the other creatures growling and hissing and snarling somewhere in the shadows, but as he continued walking, the noises died down. They could sense him. If he wanted to, he could probably command those hellhounds to do whatever he wanted them to do. He wasn't sure if he could, but maybe. That didn't mean he would. He was not a bad person; he would not get the monsters to attack someone. But everyone at camp thought that he would.

He heard a twig snap, and he turned in the direction that the noise had come from. Now he could see them, two figures looming in front of him. His helmet was slipping over his eyes again, and he pushed it back up as he assessed how much trouble he might be in and what the best strategy might be to fight the two. Maybe if they saw who they were dealing with, they would run and hide, since everyone at camp thought Nico was a monster. But if they didn't, he had to be prepared.

As they got closer to him, circling him, their weapons and shields raised and ready to fight, he could see who they were. He did not know them by name, but he had seen them around camp. One was a large, muscular boy from the Ares cabin, and the other was slender and tall with a model's build. An Aphrodite kid, obviously.

How ironic. Love and war ganging up on him.

"Well, well, well," the Ares boy said in a somewhat cruel tone, "look who it is. Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, always holed up in his cabin and afraid to come out in the sunlight. I guess this game is appropriate for you, then. In the dark. You're at an advantage. So what are you going to do? Send some zombies after us?"

Nico didn't answer. They were getting closer, and now he could see them even better, their swords gleaming in the moonlight, their lips curled into perfect snarls, like hunters about to pounce on their prey. The punishment for hurting someone during the game was still the same as it had always been, a week without dessert. That was not enough to get these boys to stay back. It did not look like they were afraid of him. He was not at an advantage.

But he could probably still handle both of them on his own.

"What's the matter? Can't talk?" the Aphrodite boy's voice was so much harsher than the Ares boy's.

Nico wasn't sure why, but he found himself backing away from them. He did not feel safe in the darkness, like he usually did. He felt like, no matter what he did, no matter how hard he fought, these boys would fight harder. It was scary, because none of the campers had ever done this. None of them had ever even bothered to get this close to him, to taunt him the way these boys were doing. Nico was losing the fear factor and, though he had wanted to fit in for so long and for people to stop being afraid of him, he didn't think that it was a good thing right now.

"Back up," he said, holding his Stygian blade up toward the Ares kid, but the boy didn't even flinch. In one swift movement, he had knocked the blade out of Nico's hand, and it clattered onto the ground somewhere far out of his reach. He clenched his fists tightly, trying to calm the anger that was swelling up in him, and scanned the area for his weapon, trying to plan exactly how he could get past them and to the blade before they had a chance to attack.

"You know," the Aphrodite kid said as he took a step closer, so close that Nico could now smell his strong, very expensive cologne, and it made him gag. "I sure wish this game was called capture the fag, because then, we would have already won."

Nico felt like his heart had risen up into his throat. Even though the wind was blowing and it was incredibly cold outside, he felt sweaty and hot, like a fever. His hands were shaking, and it felt like the entire world had just closed in around him, consuming him. It would have been better if it actually had.

This could not be happening. He was so secretive. He never let anyone know anything. How could these two know? How could anyone? Had it been obvious from the start?

Their laughter burrowed into his brain, and more insults came. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes, but he could not, _would not_ cry in front of them. They could not know that it was bothering him. He blinked, tried to calm his breathing, and dropped to the ground, searching for his sword. He could fend them off himself, or he could call for Percy. But calling for Percy would only make things worse. The torture would just continue coming.

"Whoa, where are you going?" the Aphrodite boy asked, and suddenly, there were hands on Nico's arms, and he was being jerked up from the ground.

He swung his arm back, trying to hit the Aphrodite boy if he could. Apparently he succeeded, because he was tossed back to the ground, where he smacked his face, hard, and his helmet fell off his head and rolled somewhere out of the way. His head pounded, and he could feel the thick, warm blood trickling down his cheek now. He reached up to touch it, to wipe it away, but that's not what he cared about. He had to run, get out of this situation. How had this happened? It was one of his worst nightmares, someone finding out his horrible secret.

"What's the matter, di Angelo?" the Ares boy taunted. "Did you get hurt? Do you need Percy to come over here and make it better for you?" He leaned down so that he was right in Nico's face, his dark eyes boring right into Nico's, and he smiled cruelly. "You would like that, wouldn't you?"

Nico knew that the kids at Camp Half-Blood were not nice to him, but he did not ever think that it would go this far. He did not think that this would be tolerated. But Camp Half-Blood was almost just like an ordinary high school, with the cliques, the popular and the unpopular. That meant there were going to be bullies, and Nico was going to be the object of their torment. That's how it would be in a regular high school.

But, unlike regular high school, they had powers, and Nico could overcome them. Aphrodite kids might be able to control words and people's emotions, and Ares kids might be tough and could win any fight that they encountered, but neither of them was stronger than Nico. He was so much better, so much more powerful.

"Percy's a pretty good friend of yours, isn't he?" the Aphrodite boy hissed. "I bet he wouldn't be such good friends with you if he knew you were _in love with him._" He paused, and the Ares boy laughed.

The anger was rising again, and Nico felt a tear roll down his cheek, mingling with the blood that was trickling down his neck. How did they know anything?

From somewhere in the distance, he thought he might have heard someone calling his name, but he could be imagining it. All he could hear now was the raucous laughter, and the Aphrodite boy said, "Aphrodite kids have a bad reputation of being stupid, but not when it comes to love. I can see it all over your face whenever Percy's around. It's sick."

Didn't Nico already know that? He was sickened and disgusted with himself already; he didn't need someone reminding him of that. These things happened in Greek mythology all the time. It was okay when the west wind god and the sun god loved a man, but when Nico did, it was sickening. He knew that, and he wished that he could change it. But he could not. He had no control over whom he loved.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said underneath his breath as he touched the ground, trying to concentrate all of his power into doing this one thing. Just one move, and they would never mess with him again.

The Aphrodite kid threw his head back and laughed, and the Ares boy followed suit. Nico tried to glare at them, to let them know that he was not a force to be reckoned with, but he was shaking so hard and the tears were pooling, threatening to spill over at any second. They did not look afraid, only laughed. Now two people were calling his name. He could hear the voices mixing together, two very familiar voices, but they still seemed so very far away. He was so alone.

"Don't think I'm stupid," the Aphrodite boy hissed, leaning down so that he was now in Nico's face. "I know a faggot when I see one." His eyes were so intensely blue, like ice. How could someone that was supposed to be so pretty and perfect be so hateful and cruel?

Nico tried to control the shaking, shut his eyes and crouched low to the ground, his hand resting on the damp leaves, and concentrated. When he opened his eyes, he saw horror on the two boys' faces, as the ground beneath them started to crack and fissure. He smirked, watching as they tried to retreat, tripping all over each other as the crack reached their feet. The Aphrodite boy did not move quickly enough, and the ground split open beneath him. Had it not been for the Ares boy pulling him back up, he would have fallen deep into the ground.

"This isn't over, di Angelo!" the Aphrodite boy shouted.

"I think it is!" Nico called back.

They did not say anything else. They were shouting for more of their team members, and Percy and Jason were calling for Nico, getting closer now. Nico, still shaking, managed to pull himself over to his blade, and he wrapped his fingers around the hilt and lay down on the ground next to it, trying to calm himself down. This was one of the many reasons that he had wanted to hide himself. He should have known that it would come out sooner or later.

"Nico?" It was Percy. Nico did not look up at him for fear that Percy would see that he was trying not to cry. He heard Percy gasp, and then, in a second, Percy was right next to him, shaking him lightly and saying his name, trying to get a reaction out of him. Nico could not form words, could not even look at Percy. But he saw that Percy had the other team's flag; they had won.

"Nico, what happened? Who did this to you? You're bleeding. Are you okay?" Percy just kept firing questions at him, but Nico did not respond. Percy's fingers traced his face, wiping the blood away as he continued asking, and Nico shut his eyes tightly for a second to try to stop his heartbeat from accelerating. Percy had that effect on him, and it was disgusting.

"Jason!" Percy shouted, as he tried to help Nico sit up. Not that he couldn't; he just didn't want to. He wanted to lie there on the forest floor and die. "Nico," Percy said, lowering his voice to a whisper. He was still touching Nico's face, trying to assess the damage that had been done, but the damage that _had _been done was not something that could be seen. Percy would never know. "Nico, what happened? If you just tell me, we can get to Chiron and-"

"I don't need Chiron," Nico growled, finally focusing on Percy's face. Gods, Percy was perfect, and there would be no way to make him feel any other way about the boy. It made him so, so angry that there was no other way. "I don't need you, either. I'm fine." He scrambled to his feet, just as Jason ran in and skidded to a halt a few feet away from him.

Percy got to his feet as well, slowly. "Are you sure? You want me to take you to one of the Apollo kids? They can fix that cut-"

"I don't care about the damn cut, Jackson," Nico snarled. He hadn't referred to Percy by his last name in such a long time. "Don't worry about me. You won against Clarisse, and that's all you should care about."

Percy looked genuinely confused and hurt, and Jason kept casting glances in between the two of them. He tried to catch Nico's eye, but Nico carefully avoided his gaze.

"No, that's not all I care about," Percy said, his tone turning a little harsher, more demanding. "I want to know what happened to you. They broke the rules. They weren't supposed to-"

"I handled it," Nico said. "It's fine. Now _leave it alone._" He just wanted to get to his cabin, and he never wanted to come out again. He had done this to himself.

"Nico…" Jason said, reaching toward him.

Nico sidestepped him and the cracks in the ground and started toward the edge of the forest, where he could get to his cabin before everyone else, and no one would have to see him and _know _what had happened. The word would spread; he was done.

From behind him, he heard someone else enter into the conversation, a deep, female voice that could only belong to Clarisse. "JACKSON! What is this I'm hearing? What did your boy di Angelo do to my two players?"

"My _boy _di Angelo didn't do anything to them! Your two idiots attacked him and-"

Their voices started to mix together as they started shouting at each other, and Jason was shouting over them, trying to get them to stop fighting so that they could talk quietly and be rational, but it would be a while before either Percy or Clarisse calmed down.

Nico did not care. He just knew that now, the word would be out, so he could not stay here. He had to go somewhere else, find a new life, become someone else, fix himself, because he was _disgusting _and broken.


	6. Day 21

**Since this chapter is so long, I'm not gonna bore you with a really long author's note, so I'll just say thanks for all the reviews! I'm so glad there are so many of you reading. And please continue to review, favorite, and alert this. The support is overwhelming, guys. Thank you! Hope you enjoy this! Definitely not my best chapter, but...well, I hope it's okay. **

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Day_ 21_

There was so much confusion and distress after the capture the flag game that Percy was not able to make it to Nico's cabin to check on him until the next day. He stood at the door knocking and shouting for at least ten minutes before he decided that Nico was not planning on answering the door for him.

So he went to get Jason. He knew that Nico and Jason had managed to form some sort of strange bond when he was in Tartarus with Annabeth, and though he didn't know the nature of the relationship, he knew that if Nico wouldn't listen to him, he might possibly listen to Jason. Jason practically tore the door down trying to get Nico to come out, but still, there was no answer.

As much as they hated to get other people involved, Jason and Percy then went to Travis and Connor Stoll, who were expert lock-pickers, and they managed to get inside Nico's cabin quite easily. That was when they discovered he was not there, and whatever had happened during the game had made him leave the camp again.

Which meant that they had to get to the bottom of what was going on. They did not want to take the problem to Chiron until they were absolutely sure of what had happened, but there was no way of telling what had actually happened. Derek, the boy from Ares, and Ryan, the boy from Aphrodite, both denied doing anything to provoke the attack and claimed that Nico had attacked them first.

Percy knew that in the past, Nico's defensive manner had been quite frightening and had led to several problems between the two of them, but Nico never did anything without first being provoked to do so. He knew that the boys were lying, and it was even more so obvious when they refused to swear on the River Styx, knowing very well what would happen if they did and it was a lie. Neither of them would speak about anything that they might have said or done, but Percy knew that they were indeed the ones who had done something. He could see the amusement in their eyes, and the fear. Whatever they had done they did not regret, but they would not do it again.

Percy just wondered what they could have possibly said to him to make him take off like that. There were very few things in the world that could be said to make a person flee camp.

Of course, he knew that Jason knew, and for some reason, that irritated him. The fact that Jason knew Nico better than Percy did…he didn't know why, it just made him mad. He and Nico had never been very close friends, so they never really shared information with each other, but how was it that he had connected with Jason so easily?

And the fact that Jason and Piper were whispering around him. That was annoying. He knew that Jason and Piper were a couple, and they were free to have their little secrets, but it felt like, whatever they were talking about, he should know about it too. They looked at him like he should just _know _or figure something out, but he really didn't know what could possibly be going on. He was not the smartest person, or the most observant, and surely they could understand that. They could tell him what was going on.

But they didn't. Instead, they went to Clarisse, who had been inquiring Derek ever since the game to try to figure out what was going on. Apparently she knew something too, because she was looking at Percy the same way that Jason and Piper did, like it was something so obvious, or like it was something that he had done. As far as he knew, he hadn't done anything to make Nico leave; it had been Derek and Ryan's fault, right?

Jason, Piper, and Clarisse spoke in hushed tones a few feet away from him, but he could still catch a few pieces of the conversation.

"…just really glad they haven't said anything-"

"…none of their business…"

"No one deserves that…"

When Jason and Piper were sharing secrets with Clarisse and not with him, he finally decided that he had had enough of the furtive glances, so he shoved himself into the conversation. All of them got all quiet and started acting like they had been talking about him. They probably had, though Percy still had no idea how he could have had something to do with this.

"So what have we decided?" he asked. "What happened?"

Jason and Piper exchanged a glance, the way they did when they were communicating something that they wouldn't say in front of other people. They had gotten really good at that over the past few months.

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "What do _you _think is going on?"

"Um…" Percy honestly didn't know. Nico had always been really secretive and sensitive, so there were probably several things that could have been said or done to make Nico take off like that. He realized now, with all of them looking at him, that though he had known Nico for more than four years, he really didn't know him all that well. "Well…I would assume that they were making fun of him for some reason?"

Clarisse laughed dryly. "Good job, Jackson!" she said sarcastically, and then she turned to Jason and Piper and added, "Derek is my brother and I pretty much always take his side, but not this time. He's a son of a bitch, and I'm gonna kick his ass."

Percy was growing more and more irritated by the second. So apparently they had figured out something, but they weren't too fond of telling him about it. That must mean that it involved him in some way, or they were afraid it would make him mad. If it made Clarisse mad at her own brother, then it would probably make him furious.

"Wait, so you figured out what happened?" he asked. "So what was it? What'd they say?"

No one answered at first. Clarisse opened her mouth, prepared to say something, but she was waiting on Jason or Piper to say something first. Jason was trying to be discreet about it, but he squeezed Piper's arm in an attempt to keep her quiet, which Percy didn't like. They were supposed to be his friends, and he was just trying to help another one of his friends out.

"Derek told me what he said," Clarisse finally said. "He thought it was appropriate, and he told me that he wasn't saying sorry. I'm not tolerating that. We may be children of the war god and we might like conflict, but we don't do senseless hate."

"Hate for what?" Percy asked. "Because his dad is Hades? Look, I know Hades kind of sucks, and Nico's got a lot of hate about it over the past few years because people think he's creepy, but if they got to know him-"

He stopped himself. He didn't even know Nico, so he couldn't really say anything. He did not know what caused Nico to turn into the person he was today. He used to be so enthusiastic and happy. Bianca's death, he knew, played a part in that, but he had a feeling that it was something far more than that. And he knew that no one was making fun of him because of his godly parentage. It was something else. Senseless hate…what would cause that?

There were a few things that came to mind, one thing above all the rest. But…no, that couldn't be right.

"Dear _gods_, Jackson!" Clarisse exclaimed. "I'm not claiming to be smart or anything, but at least I can say I'm smarter than you. I can see it. I can tell. How did you ever end up with someone like Annabeth?"

Percy frowned. He didn't really know how he had managed to get Annabeth, but there was no reason for bringing that up. He had tried to avoid talking about her so that, eventually, he might be able to stop thinking about her.

But Annabeth was not the problem right now.

"I'm not stupid," he said. "I'm just…not very good with details. You know?"

Piper nodded and smiled sympathetically at him. "It's okay, Percy. But this isn't your fault. You didn't cause him to run away. It was Derek and Ryan. So I'm going to talk to Ryan, and Clarisse is going to talk to Derek. You and Jason just need to focus on finding Nico and getting him back to camp. Okay?"

Percy wanted to protest. He didn't need to know what Derek and Ryan had said; he just knew that it was unreasonable and pointless. He had a pretty good idea about what went down, though, and he didn't like it. He wanted to make Derek and Ryan suffer for making Nico take off again, but more so, he wanted Nico to come back to camp, because he didn't like the idea of him roaming around by himself feeling all sad and lonely. People typically acted rashly when they were sad.

"Okay," he said.

Piper smiled at him again, kissed Jason on the cheek, and then she and Clarisse were off to deal with their brothers. Clarisse was shaking her head, and she called him an idiot, but he was not. He was not nearly as stupid as everyone thought he was. He knew what was going on, or, at least, halfway knew what was going on. Or, he thought he did.

"There's only one thing I can think of that a guy like Derek might act like an ass about," Percy said, "and I know you know. Nico told you something, and now you're telling everyone but me-"

"I'm not telling anyone anything," Jason said. "And no, I don't know anything. Nico doesn't tell me things."

Jason was a fairly good actor, but Percy could still tell that he was lying. He might not be sharing secrets, but he knew something. It irritated him so badly that Nico would share his deepest secrets with Jason and not with him. He might not have been the best friend that Nico had ever had, but he had still known him longer, and he felt like he and Nico had been through more together.

But then again, he probably wouldn't share his secrets with Nico, so it was a little understandable. There was just too big of a rift between them. Jason, though? That still didn't make sense.

"Why would he tell you?" Percy asked.

Jason sighed. "He didn't tell me anything. I don't know anything. If you want to know what's up with him, you need to ask him yourself. But he's not here so you can ask him, so let's fix that. Do you have a drachma? I bet he's at Camp Jupiter with Hazel."

Percy dug his hand into his pocket, where there was one single drachma, and he dropped it into Jason's hand. Jason was lying, but he knew that no amount of questioning would make him tell the truth. So instead, he asked, "Do you think he's…" As soon as he said it, he suddenly felt like the temperature had risen by several degrees. It was an okay topic to talk about, wasn't it? It didn't bother him. So why did he feel all nervous and jittery all of a sudden? "Um…do you think he…" He couldn't seem to get words out. That had never been a problem before.

Jason raised an eyebrow at him. "No, I don't think so. But, if he was?"

Percy shrugged. "I wouldn't care."

"Okay." Jason nodded. "Well, when he comes back, _if _he comes back, just don't treat him different, because he's not different. He's just really defensive, you know. But I'm sure, eventually, he'll let you know what's bothering him. Now come on. We need to send an Iris message to Hazel."

Percy let out a breath. Of course Nico was not any different, and he would not treat him like he was. It was just that, he wanted to know what was going on, and he wanted to hear it from Nico.

As they walked, Jason kept shooting glances in his direction. Percy tried to ignore it, but it was the same look that he and Piper and Clarisse had been giving him ever since capture the flag, and he didn't like it. It was like, Jason knew what was going on, but he wouldn't say. Percy thought it was a sexuality issue, which was not something that he had ever encountered in his immediate group of friends before, but Jason denied that, so it might be something else. Or not. He just wished that he knew the truth. The whole truth.

….

The whole time Nico was shadow-traveling across the country, all he could think about was how badly he wanted Bianca to be here. She would never tell him that he was wrong or that he was a bad person. The rest of the world might hate him, but Bianca would never, ever turn her back on him. She would wrap her arms around him tightly and kiss his forehead and ruffle his hair and tell him that she loved him and everything would be okay. Then she would probably use what little money she had and get them some candy, and they would just sit together and _talk_, and she would tell him that being different was good and it was the world that was so sick and disgusting, not him. She would be so supportive and love him all the same. But she was not here, and it wasn't _fair_.

But Hazel was here, and she was almost as good. He loved her, and he trusted her more than he did most people, but he just didn't know if he could tell her what was going on. What if she turned her back on him? What if she started treating him differently? She wouldn't do that, right? Of course not; she was his sister.

He still had this terrible feeling that she might, though. He had been like that ever since he came to Camp Half-Blood and lost Bianca, and everything in his life started to change. He couldn't help thinking pessimistically, and he had a hard time figuring out who he could and couldn't trust.

Hazel was his _sister_, though. When the whole world was against him and there was nowhere to go, no one to turn to, she would be there. She had to be. And right now, he just really needed someone to talk to, someone that would understand being different. Hazel was the closest thing, and the only thing, that he had to turn to.

So he went to Camp Jupiter, and there he stayed for four days with Hazel and Frank before they got the Iris message. He should have known that it would be coming at some point, but honestly, he didn't think they would really care enough to look for him. It wouldn't be the first time he had left camp.

But there was their image, right in front of them on the grass, where they had all been sitting and eating lunch. It startled Hazel and Frank at first, because they weren't used to communicating by Iris-message, but Nico knew what was going on. He tried to move out of the way so that they would not see him there. He didn't want them asking him questions now. Or ever, really. He just didn't want to talk to them. Jason would try to offer words of encouragement to him, and Percy would want answers. Nico seriously doubted that Percy was ready for the truth.

"Hazel! Frank!" Percy exclaimed. "Hope we didn't interrupt anything. We were just looking for Nico. Any chance you might have seen him? He took off without telling anyone what was going on. We were just making sure that he was okay."

Hazel looked up at Nico, and he tried to shake his head to let her know not to say anything to them about his whereabouts. However, she didn't seem to get the hint, and instead said, "Yeah, he's right here. He's been here for four days. I'm sorry. If I would have known he didn't tell you, I would have tried contacting you." She shot Nico a disapproving look, but her expression softened. She knew that something was going on. Otherwise he wouldn't be trying so hard to avoid Percy and Jason. She turned her attention back to the Iris message. "We're just eating lunch. I'm sure he'll be coming back in a few hours."

"Is everything okay?" Jason asked.

Nico felt like his heart had risen into his throat. He had told Hazel that he didn't want to go back to camp, and he had said that he planned on staying with her for a few days, but he never told her why. He was sure that she knew something was going on, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her. No, he was definitely sure that he didn't want to tell her. He wasn't ready.

He noticed that Hazel was not answering, and he looked up to see that she and Frank were staring at him. Hazel's eyes were filled with concern, and he knew that, as soon as she ended the IM with Percy and Jason, she would want to talk. And he did not want to talk to her about anything that was wrong.

"Everything's fine," Hazel answered. "He'll be back soon, I think. We're just going to hang out for a little while longer."

"Great!" Percy exclaimed. Their image was starting to fade away. "Obviously he's trying to avoid us, so just tell him that we were worried about him, and we hope that he comes back soon."

"Will do," Hazel replied as the image completely dissolved.

She looked up at Nico again, and he started to get up. He had to get out of here. He could not talk to her. He could not explain to her what had happened. He could not let her know about his little secret. She would not understand. No one would. But he should have known that he would not get away from her. She was up in a flash, and she grabbed her arm and pulled him back.

"Nico, what's going on? What happened?" she asked softly.

Nico shook his head, trying to remain nonchalant. "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine." But he already knew it was too late. There was no way he was going to escape.

Hazel crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him, like she could see right into his mind. He tried to stare back defiantly, letting her know that he was not planning on opening up to her, but he could not win against her. Bianca had been taken away from him, but Hazel was here, and he _did _trust her. So maybe she wouldn't understand, but he felt like he could tell her. He _should _tell her.

"Frank, can you give us a few minutes?" Hazel asked.

"Sure," Frank replied, though, as he walked away, he kept glancing over his shoulder at them. He looked about as concerned as Hazel did. Nico liked Frank and he approved of him and Hazel dating, but he most definitely did not want Frank knowing his little secrets.

"Okay, so tell me what's happening," Hazel said as she sat down on the ground where they had been sitting before.

Nico sat down across from her and watched her as she picked up her sandwich and continued eating. He hadn't realized before, but he was shaking. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes, but he did not want Hazel to see him cry. He didn't want to cry, because that didn't solve anything. It was so stupid. But he couldn't stop, and now they were rolling down his cheeks, and he was trying desperately to wipe them away before Hazel noticed, but he wasn't fast enough. She had noticed, and she dropped her sandwich and crawled over to him, planting a kiss on his forehead.

"Hey," she said softly as she pushed his hair out of his face so that he could look him in the eyes, "tell me what's going on. I want to help you."

Hazel might want to help now, but when she found out the truth? No, she had come from close to the same time as he did. Back then, this wasn't accepted. She would not understand. She would be angry with him. He looked into her eyes for a moment, trying to think of what to say, how he could tell her any of this without her judging him, and he let out a weak sob. He always tried to appear so strong in front of everyone, especially Hazel, but his walls were crumbling. He could not maintain that hard exterior anymore.

"Nico," Hazel said, her voice full of pain. She moved away from him, but she still kept her hand on his cheek. "Nico, I don't like seeing you like this. Please tell me what's going on. I want to help."

Nico shook his head and buried his face in his hands. Gods, why wouldn't the tears stop? His eyes were burning, and it felt like there was something inflating in his chest. "There were these guys at camp," he started, "and they were…harassing me…"

"Why?" Hazel asked. "Why would they bother you? What did they do?"

He refused to look up at her. He could only imagine the look in her eyes, the hurt, the concern, the worry. It was only going to get worse. He didn't want to tell her, but he felt like he should. He felt like it would be better if he got it out in the open rather than holding it in. That's what hurt, keeping it all inside, never telling anyone anything, wallowing in his own misery.

_Just say it_, he prompted himself. He looked up at Hazel, who was sitting just a few inches away from him, her hand on his arm, her eyes watery with tears that were threatening to spill over any second.

"Hazel, I'm…" His voice got caught in his throat, and he sucked in a shaky breath, trying to steady himself. Another tear rolled down his cheek, and he wiped it away. Hazel's grip on his arm tightened, and he looked into her eyes. A tear fell down her cheek, and he knew that he did not even have to say it, because she already knew, because why else would he be this emotional? But he said it anyway, the first time that he had actually admitted it to himself, out loud. "I'm gay."

Hazel nodded and bit her lip, looking away from him and up at the sky. Her hand slid down his arm to his hand, and she gripped it tight, lacing her fingers with his. Nico felt sick, like he had made the most terrible mistake of his life, and he wanted more than anything to take it back. Or, he wanted her to say something, anything, even if it was that she disapproved of him, because he could understand that.

It felt like forever before she spoke. She looked at him and squeezed his hand tight, her mouth turning up into a half-smile, and said, "Okay."

That was it. That was all she said. Nico stared at her in disbelief for a moment, waiting for something else to come, but she did not say anything else. He shut his eyes, and a couple more tears fell. How could she be so calm about this, like it was no big deal? It didn't make sense. She wasn't supposed to react like this. No one was. But the only two people who knew, Jason and Hazel, had taken the news like it didn't bother them. It was no problem to them.

"Why are you not telling me that it's disgusting?" he asked. "Because it is. I'm disgusted with myself. I'm broken, and I can't be fixed."

"You don't need fixing," Hazel said. "You're perfect just the way you are." She paused for a moment to see if he would say anything else, but he wouldn't even look at her. "You think it's wrong because of the way people were treated in the past for it? I understand. I saw it too. We might have come from the past, but, as far as I can see, this is a new world. It's not going to be anywhere near as bad as it was in the past. It'll still be hard, I'm sure, but that's why you have friends to support you. And a sister. We'll get you through this."

He looked up at Hazel again, and she smiled at him and touched his cheek lightly. And somehow, he managed a small smile back at her. She sounded so convincing. How could he have ever thought that she would judge him or hate him? She was his sister. She would always be there for him, just as he would always be there for her.

"Those two guys at camp…" he said.

"They're not going to bother you again," Hazel said. "Percy and Jason took care of them. You know they did. They care about you too much to let anyone pick on you like that. And if they ever do bother you again, I'll personally come over there and beat them into next year." Her smile grew wider, and then she laughed. "Come on, Nico. It's okay to laugh. You don't have to be sad all the time. Especially now. Embrace life. Come out of that shell. There are people who love you so, so much, and they don't want to see you sad. Like me."

Nico smiled and laughed dryly as he wrapped his arms around his sister and pulled her into a tight hug. This was not how he had expected it to go, but he was so, so glad that it had gone well. All those years, wandering around, too ashamed of himself to even talk to anyone about it, and in just one moment, all of that had changed. And he actually felt _better. _

"One question, though," Hazel said as she pulled away from him. "Um…have you ever um…well, you know…kissed…a guy?"

"No," Nico answered.

Wasn't it good enough that he had admitted his secret to her? He really didn't want to start talking about his love life with her so soon. Maybe in like, a year or so. It had taken him long enough just to tell her he didn't like girls.

"But you like someone?" Hazel asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

He stared at her in horror. Nope, this was definitely not a topic he wanted to be on with his little sister. He got up from the ground, brushing the grass off his clothes, and said, "Well, I think I might need to get back to Camp Half-Blood. Maybe rumor hasn't traveled around the camp about what went on in the forest. Maybe if I just stay in my cabin, like I normally do…"

Hazel got up and grabbed his arm before he could run away. She had a sly smile on her face, one that was not very characteristic for her, and it made him nervous. "Is it Percy?" she asked.

"What? No," Nico said, but he knew as soon as he had spoken that it was the least convincing lie he had ever told.

Hazel shrugged. "Okay, just wondering. But he _did _seem pretty concerned about you…"

"So?"

"Just saying. With him and Annabeth broken up and everything-"

"Hazel!"

She smiled. "What? I'm your sister. That's what I'm supposed to do, isn't it?" She nudged him playfully in the arm and then hugged him. "Get back to camp and let them know you're okay." She pulled away and kissed him on the cheek. "I love you. Be safe. I'll see you soon. And let me know if those guys give you any more trouble! They don't know who they're dealing with."

He nodded and waved to her. He was not very much looking forward to going back to Camp Half-Blood, but for some reason, he felt like it might be okay. Percy and Jason had cared enough to look for him. Hazel was supporting him one hundred percent, which he should have known she would do. And he felt better, like he had just released years worth of grief that had been weighing him down. Well, that's exactly what he had done. And now he felt like, maybe, he could tackle whatever was waiting for him at Camp Half-Blood.

….

He didn't get back until very late that night, past midnight, he assumed, but when he arrived, he saw that, even though the entire camp was dead, Percy and Jason were sitting in front of his cabin waiting for him. Jason was asleep and snoring, and Percy was on the verge of sleep, but they were there. He didn't know that people actually cared about him. He had always been that untrustworthy, weird kid that no one liked hanging around. But now, after the Giant War, he felt like he might mean something to them, though he still didn't feel like he deserved it. Especially Percy. He definitely didn't deserve Percy's attention.

But as soon as Percy saw Nico walking toward the cabin, he shook Jason awake, and they both got up and ran toward him. Jason got to him first and hugged him tightly, which he wasn't very fond of. He did not hug Jason back, but he appreciated the gesture.

"Nico!" Jason exclaimed. "I'm so glad to have you back. We missed you. We were afraid you might not want to come back."

Nico shrugged. "I decided it's not so bad. It's somewhat of a home, right?"

And then Percy was hugging him, and gods, he didn't even know what to do. He could feel the blush creeping up his neck. His mouth went dry and his eyes widened, and he couldn't seem to figure out what to do with his hands. But after the initial panic, he hugged Percy back.

"I'm so glad you're back!" Percy said. "I didn't want you to run away from camp again and be all alone. We missed you."

Nico realized that he was still hugging Percy and it had been quite a long time, so he reluctantly pulled away and said, "I've been gone longer than that before. I don't know what you guys were so worried about."

"Just don't run away from camp again without telling us first," Percy said. "And if there are jerks picking on you, let us know, okay? You might be perfectly capable of fighting your own battles, but you don't always have to fight them alone."

"Yeah, we've got your back," Jason said, clapping a hand on Nico's shoulder.

Nico glanced in between the two of them. He did not want them fighting his battles, especially since they had no idea what he was going through, but it was nice to know that they were there. "Thanks," he said.

"I'm sure you've had a long day," Jason said. "So why don't you get some rest, and then we'll see you at breakfast in the morning? Or lunch, depending on what time you wake up."

"Yeah, okay," Nico agreed, though he was a little afraid to face the rest of the campers. He had been fine before he got here thinking about it, but now, he was worried that everyone knew, and they might talk about him and point and laugh at him. He didn't need any more harassment.

But Percy didn't seem to know anything, so maybe word hadn't spread after all. Maybe no one knew a thing.

"Good night," Jason said, as he and Percy made their way to their cabins.

Nico watched them as they went, and he saw Percy turn once and smile at him. He did not smile back, just waved, and then turned and went to his cabin. Sometimes he hated Percy for making him feel this way. But it was going to be okay now. Everything was going to be okay.


	7. Day 29

**I want to apologize in advance for this chapter. It's not really all that great, and I'm sorry. I'm working on a novel right now as well, and so I've been kind of distracted and busy. This wasn't supposed to be posted until tomorrow, but I think I'll just go ahead and do it today. Sorry for the wait, guys. The next chapter will come sooner. Also, I did a little bit of editing in previous chapters to kind of get the time lined up in here correctly, so if you notice anything different about the timing, yeah. I wanted Christmas in the fic to line up with Christmas in real life, etc. Well, please favorite, alert, or review, even if it's terrible. Next chapter will be better, I promise. **

**Oh, and there's a surprise appearance by someone in here. Yay! I wasn't planning on putting her in here, but...well, you'll see. (: **

**Anyway, read on, my lovely readers. And, hopefully, enjoy. **

* * *

Day_ 29 _

Nico hated waking up early in the mornings. Most of the time, he slept until at least after noon, and even then, he rarely went out of his cabin and participated in camp activities. He realized, once he had returned from Camp Jupiter, that he was completely terrified of facing other campers after the capture the flag incident, and he was even more reluctant to come out than he usually was. No one bothered him or pressured him to come out, though Jason did come by every day or so to check on him and make sure that everything was okay.

It was hard to hide things from Jason, because Jason was the only person that had actually extended friendship to him on the Argo II on the way to the House of Hades. He was really the only person that had offered friendship at all through the war, except for Percy. And maybe Reyna, at times, but mostly, she had been all about fighting and distancing herself from other people. So, though he was still not very open to the idea of sharing his feelings with others or letting them know all his little secrets, he told Jason all about the capture the flag game.

Jason seemed to take it harder than he himself had taken it. Nico had been angry and upset, and he had run away, but he did not want to fight them. If Jason hadn't already threatened their lives before, he was doing it now. And at first, when Nico was curled up on the forest floor feeling fragile and vulnerable, he would have completely agreed with Jason that Derek and Ryan should suffer. In fact, he would have liked to handle it himself. He had seen his father's realm; he knew how to make people suffer. But he was trying to overcome that. He was a child of Hades. His fatal flaw was holding grudges. He had to learn how to forgive.

But not quite yet. He was still angry at them, and he would be for a very long time, but he felt like people like Derek and Ryan who made fun of others because of their sexuality were really just in denial about their own. Nico had never gone so far as to bully someone or make fun of them for something like that, but he had definitely lashed out at people when he was in denial. He was not in denial anymore, but he was still hurt and miserable.

Some days, when Nico didn't want to talk about his life, Jason talked about Piper. Since Jason and Nico were technically friends, Nico should have cared a little bit more about Jason's relationship, but he didn't, mostly because it seemed like they had a perfect life together and Nico was only slightly jealous of that. He could deal with being alone right now, but he didn't want to be alone forever. He listened to Jason, but he did not show much interest.

Finally, after a few days of visits, Jason was able to convince him that everything was okay in the camp. No one was talking about him or making fun of him or spreading rumors. In fact, the only thing that had been said was from Derek and Ryan, who claimed that Nico had attacked them. So really, nothing had changed. People still thought that Nico was a creepy psychopath. He could deal with that, since he had been dealing with it to begin with.

He woke up early, though he hated to, so that he could go to breakfast with his friends. He was still nervous, but he could not let anyone at camp know that, because that would be showing signs of weakness. If people saw that, he would become a target again. He had to act like Derek and Ryan hadn't affected him, and he was not afraid.

The dining pavilion was crowded, as it usually was, with half-asleep teenagers moving around like zombies, just barely able to function. Especially the Hypnos kids, who were passed out in their cereal and snoring. But this didn't seem to apply to the Aphrodite kids, who looked fantastic at all hours of the day and somehow managed to look like supermodels even at breakfast, when no one was supposed to care what they looked like. As Nico looked at the Aphrodite table, he accidentally locked eyes with Ryan, and Ryan smirked as if to warn him that the worst was yet to come. Still, Ryan looked a little afraid, which was good, and Nico really wasn't concerned about him anyway. What could a child of the love goddess do to hurt him?

Well, there were plenty of things, but he didn't want to think about all that.

He sat down at the Zeus table, which was apparently the place that everyone sat at now. Jason, Piper, Percy, Grover, Leo, and Calypso were there now, which was odd. Calypso had been rescued from the island, but she rarely ever came to camp. Unless she was visiting Leo. She tried to act like she wasn't interested in him, but everyone knew that wasn't true.

Everyone seemed to be in pretty high spirits, except for Percy, who was at the end of the table and not touching his food. Nico sat down next to Leo, who jumped as soon as he did, like he didn't even see him coming. Jason and Piper greeted him with a smile, but Percy just looked up for a second, rolled his eyes, and then laid his head on the table. No one paid any attention to him.

"So we were just talking about having a game night sometime this week," Jason said. "You know, like Monopoly and Uno and stuff like that-"

"Though I don't think playing Monopoly is a good idea unless you want to tear this group apart," Leo said, and Piper and Grover muttered agreement.

"Fine, no Monopoly," Jason said. "Some other games then. We were thinking about making it a couples' night, and we could all bring dates and hang out-"

"But that doesn't make sense, since you and Piper are the only ones dating in the group," Calypso interrupted as she glanced at Leo. He looked away from her and down at the table, and Piper rolled her eyes.

"So since we're the…only couple…" Piper said, eyeing Calypso carefully, "we decided just to make it a fun friends night. Sound okay?"

"Um…" Nico glanced at Percy, who still had his face against the table, but now he was groaning and starting to appear a little melodramatic about whatever was going on. Nico looked up at everyone at the table and saw that they too were staring at Percy now. Nico looked at Jason questioningly, and he raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes in response. So then it became obvious what the problem was.

"Percy?" Leo said, shaking Percy's arm a little. "Buddy? You haven't even touched your breakfast."

Percy groaned in response and pushed his food away without looking up. Leo shrugged and grabbed the plate, which was piled high with blue pancakes. He poured some syrup on them and started to eat them, but Jason stopped him and put the plate back in front of Percy, who didn't seem to notice that his food had even been taken.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Piper prompted. "We could help you, maybe."

He was silent for a second, and then finally, he looked up at them and rubbed his eyes. It looked like he had had another sleepless night, so of course, the problem must be Annabeth. Who else could make Percy stay up all night and be miserable the next morning?

"It's been a month since Annabeth left, and I haven't talked to her in three weeks," he said. "She told me that she would call as often as she could…"

No one spoke. Grover was chewing on a can again, like he did when he was nervous or didn't know what to say, and everyone else just looked around at each other waiting for someone to speak. Nico sighed and locked eyes with Jason, who was trying to communicate some sort of silent message to him. He didn't exactly know what he was trying to say, but he could get a general gist. He needed to say something to make Percy feel better, but he didn't know what to say.

"Well, it must be hard for her, you know," Piper said with a weak smile. "She's trying to start a different life because the war hurt her. I think that she's just having a tough time and she needs space. Maybe a month or two…or ten. I know it's hard, but it's something that you have to respect. If she wants to come back, she will. If she doesn't…well…" She shrugged. "You need to move on."

Percy's eyes narrowed, his shoulders tensed, and Piper frowned. "Yeah, but don't you think I'm having a tough time too? If she wants to get away, fine, but that doesn't make it easier on me."

"I wouldn't think that it would be easy on you," Piper replied. "I'm just saying that…well, just respect her space. You're single for now. Maybe you won't be later on. Maybe she'll come back. But I think, until then, you need to stop being miserable and start having a little fun. Hang out with your friends. Participate in camp activities. Date other people."

Nico flinched and looked down at the table. Dating. He hated being on that topic. It always made him uncomfortable. It seemed like everyone around him was dating, because that's what teenagers were supposed to do, but he wasn't. He had never dated anyone. He had never even _thought_ about dating anyone. Except Percy. But that was a joke.

Apparently the idea of dating other people hadn't occurred to Percy. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion, and then he shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I mean, I'm down with the whole game night thing, but dating someone…I don't know."

Nico let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding. That was good. Percy was completely against dating. That was better than if he wasn't and he found someone else that he really, really liked.

"What about Chloe from Hermes?" Grover suggested. "I mean, I thought she was interested in you before you and Annabeth started dating. I'm sure she still is. I've noticed her looking at you at the campfires."

Chloe from Hermes. Nico hadn't known her name, but he had seen her looking as well.

"Chloe?" Leo said with a smile. "She's hot. I mean…" He grimaced when he saw that Calypso was glaring at him. "Not like in a hot kind of way for me. I mean…she's definitely not my type. Maybe Percy's, but not…not mine." He looked down at the table and started to tap his fingers nervously, and Piper laughed.

Percy shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't really noticed. I mean…I've never talked to her…"

He looked at the Hermes table and frowned. Everyone followed his gaze, including Nico, who immediately spotted the girl they were discussing at the end of the table, close to Travis and Connor. She was pretty, in a way, and she kind of resembled Annabeth, with gray eyes and fair skin. It didn't take long for her to realize that there was an entire table full of people staring at her, and she looked up at them questioningly and then looked away. Piper and Jason immediately looked away as well, and slowly, the others at the table followed suit, except for Percy, who continued to study her. Nico watched Percy closely, trying to detect any change in emotion upon looking at the girl, but Percy's face was blank and emotionless and impossible to read.

"I don't think so," Percy finally said. "I mean, sure, she's cute, I guess, but I don't think so. I just don't think I'm going to date anyone-"

"Hey, you know what cures heartbreak?" Leo said. "Ice cream. Every single time. I know this because…well, I've broken a lot of hearts…or, you know, had a few heartbreaks myself, no biggie…"

Percy scowled, and it seemed that everyone knew not to say another word. He might have accepted that he and Annabeth had broken up, but he hadn't accepted the fact that she simply did not want to be a part of his life right now. That would take some time. He also did not really want people's advice or sympathy; he never had wanted people to feel sorry for him and take pity on him.

"I just don't feel like talking right now," he said as he got up from the table. "I'll be in my cabin, if anyone needs me." And then he left.

Everyone at the table was silent. They had no idea how to make Percy get over something like this. Annabeth had been everything to him since they were twelve years old. How could they make him move on from that?

He had moved past the denial stage, in which he didn't believe they were broken up at all, and he had been past the anger stage, when he destroyed everything in his path and tore people down because of his own misery. But now, he had reached the depression stage, in which he was going to feel sorry for himself and be miserable until something, or someone, came along and made him behave otherwise. The next stage was acceptance. The only problem was, no one knew how to get him there, including Nico. He felt like he knew Percy so well, even though they weren't terribly close friends, but he was clueless right now.

"So…does that mean I can have the pancakes now?" Leo asked.

Jason sighed as Leo reached for the plate, and he looked over at Nico expectantly, trying to communicate a silent message again. This one was clear: you can fix this. Nico wasn't so sure about that, but he could at least try.

…

He showed up at Percy's cabin a couple of hours later with ice cream, because Leo had suggested it and he couldn't think of any other way to make Percy feel better. Telling him empty things like "Everything's going to be okay" and "You'll find someone better" just didn't seem like they would be fitting, so the ice cream would have to work. He knocked on the door, waited for a few seconds, and, when he didn't hear footsteps inside, he knocked again. Still no footsteps, but there was a loud groan, so he took that as his invitation to enter.

The entire cabin was dark, and it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in an entire month. In fact, it probably hadn't. There were clothes thrown everywhere, piles and piles of clothes all around the room. There was trash everywhere, anything from Coke cans to candy wrappers to chip bags, and there was even some food on plates sitting out that looked like it came from a week ago. Nico did not usually care about his cabin being incredibly clean, but this was disgusting and unsanitary even for him. He kicked some clothes out of his path and frowned, trying not to breathe for fear of inhaling the terrible smell that filled the room.

This was not Percy. Percy would not let himself go like this. He had had his little breakdown after Annabeth left, and he had started pretending that everything was okay on the outside, for the sake of his friends and the other campers. He didn't want people to think that he was falling apart. He didn't want people to feel sorry for him. But on the inside, he was still not over it, and he needed someone to pay attention to him and make him feel better. And no one had done that.

He found Percy on the couch, face down and underneath a blanket. He had a TV in the room, unlike most of the other cabins, and he had it turned on to some Lifetime movie, which was kind of depressing. The whole sight of this was just really depressing, and it almost made Nico angry. This was not the Percy that he had grown to love, and he was not going to deal with it. He understood that Annabeth was a large part of Percy's life; they had been through everything together. Maybe he had a hard time functioning without her. But it was time to at least try moving on. This was tragic.

"Percy?" he said, his voice coming out a whole lot harsher than he meant for it to. "Percy, get the hell off the couch. This place is a mess."

Percy looked up at him, his eyes all squinty like he had just been woken up. He frowned. "Yeah, I've noticed. Just haven't found the time to clean it up. What's up?"

Nico stared at him for a moment before putting the ice cream down on the table in front of the couch and starting to clean up. This was beyond irritating for him. The first time that he was in the Poseidon cabin, just him and Percy, and he was cleaning up a mess that Percy had made. Because Percy was too lazy to clean it up himself.

"Blue cotton candy ice cream?" Percy asked from behind him.

"Yes," Nico answered, refusing to look at him. If he looked at Percy, he was afraid that he might start yelling. "I had to go to six different places, but I finally found it."

Percy was silent. Nico threw some of the clothes into a basket, but it just seemed like there were more appearing out of nowhere.

"Thank you," he finally said.

Nico grimaced. His time for feeling sorry for Percy was over. It was okay to be sad and it was okay to mourn and feel bad for himself, but it was unacceptable for him to let his life fall apart like this. For a little while, Nico thought that perhaps Percy had gotten himself together, that everything was fine and he would move on, but he was wrong. Percy was putting on a fake smile and coming back here to let himself fall apart. And that was unacceptable. Percy had always been the strongest person, in Nico's eyes, and he could not bear watching him tear himself down any longer. If he had to go to California and bring Annabeth back, then so be it. But he was not going to deal with this any longer.

"You don't have to clean up," Percy said. "I'll do it. Eventually."

Nico threw the clothes down and rounded on him. "What is your problem? And don't tell me it's Annabeth. She was your first girlfriend, the only girl you ever actually liked, and she broke up with you. I'm sorry about that. Really. But you've got to get over it."

Percy was glaring at him, and he tossed his ice cream to the side. "I really don't think you understand. It's been a month since she left, it's been three weeks since I've talked to her. She was everything to me, Nico, and she's gone. She has moved on with her life, and she doesn't care about me anymore. She's moving on with her life, and who knows? She's probably slowly forgetting about me." He shook his head. "Literally everything that I went through since I got to Camp Half-Blood, Annabeth was there too. We went through everything together. Do you know how hard it is to manage without her?"

"I can only imagine," Nico said. "I thought you were doing fine. You were participating. You played capture the flag…"

Percy rolled his eyes and picked the ice cream up again. There was now blue melted all over his couch, but he didn't even seem to notice. "I was trying to get better, but it's really hard. You wouldn't understand."

Nico turned away from him and started picking up some trash. There was nowhere to put it, though, because the trash can was already overflowing. "I understand more than you know," he muttered. "I know how it feels to be in love with someone that you think you know so well and you think is perfect for you, but they just continuously overlook you like you're nothing. Like you haven't done anything for them, like you're not anything special…"

He heard Percy drop his spoon behind him, and he lowered his head even more so that Percy could not see his face. He shouldn't have said anything, but he was just so irritated. He wouldn't be surprised if Percy figured something out now. But he hoped that he didn't. He really, really hoped that he didn't.

"You always get so defensive about dating," Percy said. "I mean, you got so mad when I pointed out that girl was looking at you. I didn't think…I mean, I didn't know…"

"Yeah, there are a lot of things you think you know about me, but you don't," Nico said, letting out a breath. Thank the gods. Percy was still just as stupid as he always was.

"So, if you understand what I'm feeling, then you can understand how hard it is to get over someone like that," Percy said.

Nico paused, his hands shaking as he stared down at the filthy floor. "Yes, I know how hard it is," he said. "But I don't let myself go like what you're doing. I'm sorry, Percy, and I know that this is going to be hard for you to hear, but there are other problems in the world. There are people who have it so much worse than you do."

"Like you?" Percy asked, his voice as sharp as a sword.

Nico's jaw locked, and he rolled his eyes. Now Percy was mocking him, begging him to try to say that his life was worse. Well, it was. He felt like he had it so much worse than Percy.

"I didn't say that," he said. "But yes, I think so."

"You try to act like your life is horrible all the time," Percy said bitterly. "You've been doing that ever since you got here. You run away from camp every time anything happens to you, no matter how little it is. You think that everything is the end of the world-"

"Last week, you were angry and you took up for me, and now you're telling me that I'm blowing everything out of proportion?" Nico asked, turning to look at Percy. "Fine, maybe I am. Maybe I'm just completely exaggerating all my problems, and there really isn't anything wrong with me. You're right. You have it so much worse. You lost your girlfriend, and that's all you have to deal with. Really, I'm sorry that you have so many problems right now."

Percy's upper lip curled, and it seemed that he had another biting comment to voice, but instead, he just shoved a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth and lay down on the couch again.

Nico rolled his eyes and threw the trash aside. Gods, he wanted to strangle Percy sometimes. He never apologized to anyone, but he actually felt sorry whenever he and Percy argued. Percy had this way of making himself look completely pitiful and hurt, and he hated him for that.

"Look, I'm sorry," Nico said as he sat down on the couch close to Percy. But not too close. "I know it's hard. But Annabeth was just a part of your life, not your whole life. You might have thought she was your whole life, but she wasn't. There are so many other things to live for. You have your mom, your friends, the camp. I mean, you're seventeen years old! There are other people out there for you. You're going to date a lot of other people before you find the one, probably. And who knows? It might lead you right back to Annabeth."

Percy frowned and stared down at his ice cream like it held all the answers to the universe in it. And then he sighed and said, "No, I'm going to be single for the rest of my life, and I'm going to die alone in a house with my thirty-five cats."

Despite himself, Nico laughed, which seemed to insult Percy to no end because he was being completely serious, but Nico thought it was hilarious. "I think you've been watching too many Lifetime movies," he said. "You're turning into a middle-aged woman."

Percy stared at him for a second, and then, slowly, his mouth turned up into a grin. "You're right. I think I need to turn the TV off. Those movies suck anyway." He reached for the remote and turned the TV off, then held his ice cream out to Nico. "Do you want some?"

"No," Nico replied. "Leo said that ice cream is supposed to make you feel better after a heartbreak. I think he meant immediately after, but…is it making it any better?"

Percy smiled. "A little, yeah. Um…I'm really sorry. I mean…apparently you understand what I'm going through, but I don't understand you. I don't think I ever will. So, sorry that I said you exaggerated about things. I'm sure whatever's going on, it's not stupid. And, you know, um…if you ever wanna talk about it…"

Nico laughed again, though this time, it was humorless. "I really don't think you're ready for me to unload my problems on you just yet."

Percy nodded. His eyes were all lit up again, like he was starting to regain his happiness. "Yeah, you're probably right. I suck at giving advice."

Nico sighed and looked around the room. It still looked like a complete disaster, and it would probably take hours to clean up. "You're not going to be alone forever," he said. He was feeling nervous again. Should he drop another hint? Maybe Percy would pick up on this one. Or maybe he wouldn't. Would he even want Percy to pick up on it? He didn't think Percy was ready to know the truth about him. But after a few seconds of consideration, he decided to just go for it. "I mean, there are probably a lot of people here at camp that you don't even know about who would do anything to be with you. Some of them might even be right in front of you, and you wouldn't even know it." He sucked in a breath, hoping for the best.

Percy raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Like Chloe? I don't know, I mean, like I said, she's pretty and all, but I just can't see myself dating her."

Nico sighed and rolled his eyes. He supposed that that statement applied to him as well. _You're a good friend, Nico, most of the time, when you're not making me question whether or not I trust you, but I just really can't see myself dating you. That could be awkward. _

"Well, maybe you should just…give her a chance?" he suggested. "I'm sure she really, really likes you, but you wouldn't know if you liked her or not unless you gave it a shot."

Percy frowned. "I still don't know. I mean, Hermes cabin? Really?"

Nico shrugged. "Love knows no boundaries."

Percy looked up at him, his eyes narrowed for a split second, like he was trying to decipher Nico's words. And for that split second, Nico thought he might have figured it out. For that split second, it felt like time had frozen, and his heart was pounding hard in his chest and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

But then Percy tossed his ice cream aside and said, "Well, I finished an entire pint, and I feel a whole lot better now. Wow, this place is a mess, don't you think? I should really clean that up."

Nico let out a breath, though he wasn't quite sure if he felt relieved or not. On the one hand, he wanted Percy to know. He wanted something to happen. Even if he just told him to go away and never talk to him again. And on the other hand, he still wanted to keep it a secret for as long as he possibly could, because he was afraid.

"Would you mind helping me?" Percy asked. "It's kind of a lot of cleaning, and…well, we could get it done faster if we worked together…"

Nico hated cleaning. In fact, he really hadn't wanted to clean when he started picking things up a few minutes ago, but the place was so disgusting that he couldn't bear to look at it for very long. Now, though, Percy was motivated and ready to clean, so he didn't have to do anything. But there was Percy, right in front of him, giving him the trademark puppy-dog eyes that he was so good at doing.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll help you. But this is gonna take some effort. It looks like a war zone in here."

"I'm actually pretty sure that Gaea did less damage than this," Percy said, and Nico laughed.

This was getting ridiculous. He was not supposed to laugh. He hardly ever did. But with Percy, it felt good. He had to stop this. He knew that nothing was ever going to happen with Percy, ever. Even if he stopped talking about Annabeth today, even if he decided to move on, even if they hung out more often. Because the whole time, Nico knew that he would be falling even more in love, and Percy would be oblivious like he normally was.

"Come on, let's make this place more habitable," Percy said.

"Oh, habitable," Nico said as he got up from the couch. "That's a big word for you."

Percy rolled his eyes and threw a pillow at him. "Shut up."

But then again, maybe something would change. Percy seemed friendlier now, friendlier toward him now than he had ever been in the past. He smiled, just thinking about things changing, and Percy smiled back at him, though he had no idea the thoughts going on in his head.

Yes, there was hope. Maybe just a tiny bit, but it was just enough to keep Nico going.


	8. Day 34

**Well, this was supposed to be posted yesterday, but I wasn't finished with it yet. I kind of rushed with this chapter, so I'm really not sure how I feel about it. It might be good, I don't know. Also, even though this is mainly Percy/Nico, I just wanted to let you guys know that I really, really like Calypso/Leo, so there might be a few hints of that in here as well, and also Jason/Piper. **

**Also, one of the reviewers said that they were interested in Derek and Ryan as characters, and I should write more about them. I was planning on doing just that, actually! Don't worry, I'm not done with them. Fighting with a child of the love goddess can never be good, can it? **

**Thanks for all the lovely reviews! I honestly didn't think this story would be as successful as it is, and I can only thank all of you guys for that. I hope you guys continue to be interested in the future. I love you all! Enjoy this chapter! **

* * *

_Day 34_

Nico looked around at the people sitting in the room with him. Percy, Jason, Piper, Leo, Calypso, Grover, Clarisse (for some reason), and Rachel. They were in the Zeus cabin, the first time that he had ever been in there, and he had never seen a place that was so clean and bright. Unlike his own cabin, which was black with one or two lights but otherwise fairly dark, this place looked like it was made out of sunlight. Everything was pearly white and shiny and reflected just like a mirror, so Nico could look into the tiles on the floor where he was sitting and see himself. It was like the place was designed for royalty, and it kind of was. It was hard for him to get adjusted to this cabin, and it made him slightly uncomfortable how perfect and neat it was inside. This was the exact opposite of what he was used to.

"So, I suppose you're all wondering why I gathered you here today," Jason said mysteriously, like he had some sort of secretive plan.

"Yeah, I am," Clarisse said. "I don't understand what I have to do with this. Most of the time, I don't even like most of you."

Piper grimaced, but after a second, she managed a smile. "Well, we consider you a friend, Clarisse, so we wanted you to come."

She was walking around the circle passing out cups of hot chocolate and marshmallows, and Leo kept telling her to put more marshmallows in his cup, even though it was about to overflow. Once she finally reached Nico, he declined the drink. He was curious about why they were here as well.

"Okay, so it's getting close to Christmas," Jason said, "so Piper and I came up with a pretty good idea for the holiday season. It's a little late, since Christmas is only a week away, but we think it'll be fun. We decided that we should do Secret Santa."

The room fell silent, except for Clarisse, who was grumbling under her breath about how she did not want to participate, and then Leo exclaimed, "Yes!"

Calypso looked at him in confusion, raising an eyebrow, and asked, "What is Secret Santa?"

Nico was glad she asked. He wasn't entirely sure he was clear on the whole concept either.

"Well," Piper said, picking up a hat that was sitting on the table, "basically I pass around this hat, which has all of our names in it, and we each draw a name. Whoever's name we get, we have to buy them a present, but you can't let anyone know whose name you've got. On Christmas, we each open our presents, and then we have to guess who the present came from."

Nico frowned. It might sound fun to them, but to him, it just sounded stressful. He didn't know any of these people very well, except for maybe Percy and Jason, so he really wouldn't know what to get anyone. What if he drew Clarisse's name? That was a terrifying thought. What could she possibly want? A new weapon, perhaps? Or what if he got Percy's? He could probably think of a hundred things he could get Percy, but it would stress him out, trying to get the perfect present. He wasn't sure if he liked this idea.

There was no time to protest, though, because Piper had already gotten almost everyone in the room excited. She passed the hat to Jason and told him to draw a name and pass it around.

The room was deathly silent as the hat got passed around. Nico studied each person's reaction as they drew a name from the hat, trying to guess whose name they might have drawn. Jason shrugged, Leo laughed like a maniac like he had some sort of evil plan, Clarisse rolled her eyes and cursed, Percy frowned and looked as if he was already trying to come up with an idea, Calypso looked around cluelessly, Grover grinned, Rachel stared at the paper intensely, and Piper's eyes widened in horror.

Nico's own reaction was that of contempt, because he had Leo. Not that he didn't like Leo, because, for the most part, he did. However, sometimes Leo annoyed him, and he knew that, even after the war, Leo was still a little afraid of him, even though he didn't show it. He had no idea what to get him.

"Hmm," Piper said, still staring at her piece of paper like she couldn't believe what was written on it. "Well, this should be interesting."

"I don't want to do this," Clarisse complained. "Why did you have to get me into your idiotic schemes?"

"Aww, lighten up, Clarisse," Leo said, punching her in the arm lightly. "Get in the Christmas spirit! Don't be a Grinch."

Nico didn't really understand what that meant, but whatever it was, it looked like it offended Clarisse, and then, after a moment, the corner of her mouth turned up into a smirk, and, judging from the wicked gleam in her eyes, it looked like she was devising a plan.

"Wait, are we all going to be here on Christmas?" Grover asked. "Or do we need to do this before? We don't have much time."

"I'm not going home," Piper replied. "My dad will be busy, so I'll be here."

"Me too," Jason agreed.

"Me three," Leo said.

Everyone else agreed as well. They had nowhere to go for the holidays. Well, except Percy.

"My mom and Paul have a Christmas party every year in the apartment," he said. "I'd have to ask to make sure, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind having a few extra guests this year."

"Sounds great," Piper said.

"Tacky Christmas sweaters!" Leo shouted as he jumped up from the floor.

Everyone's eyes were on him now, and Nico once again wondered what he could possibly get Leo for Christmas. He was so hyper and got so excited about every little thing. The complete opposite of Nico. He decided that, since Leo was like a five-year-old, he could probably get him anything and he would be excited about it.

"What?" Grover asked.

"Tacky Christmas sweaters!" Leo exclaimed again, like that was supposed to be the explanation. He rolled his eyes. "Come on, that's one of the best parts of Christmas! We have to do tacky Christmas sweaters."

"Yes," Percy agreed with a wide smile. "Tacky Christmas sweaters are a must. We should see who can find the tackiest one."

"Challenge accepted," Leo said as he sipped his hot chocolate. It looked like his whole body was vibrating. Perhaps it was not the best idea to give Leo hot chocolate. He was already hyper enough without the sugar.

"Okay! So Secret Santa and tacky Christmas sweaters," Piper said. "This is going to be the best Christmas ever!"

Everyone seemed to be incredibly happy and excited about these ideas, except for Clarisse, Calypso, and Nico. Clarisse was usually grumpy, but Calypso just looked about as confused as Nico felt. He hadn't celebrated Christmas since he got to Camp Half-Blood. In fact, the last Christmas that he had celebrated was with his mom and Bianca, and that was in…what, 1937? That was almost 75 years ago. Christmas had never been anything like this back then, and he was incredibly confused about these new traditions. And Calypso…she had to be more confused than he was, being on that island for thousands of years.

"Tacky Christmas sweaters…" she murmured. "I don't understand."

"Don't worry, I'll help you!" Leo exclaimed, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "We'll be the tackiest ones there."

Nico looked around helplessly. Presents, sweaters, hot chocolate, and now Grover was singing Christmas carols and playing his lute, and people were starting to join in. This holiday was just too warm and fuzzy for him, and it made him uncomfortable. Why did they think it was a good idea to invite him to something like this? He got up from the floor, trying to catch someone's eye so that he could excuse himself without being rude and just walking out, but everyone was too caught up in the holiday cheer. Well, it probably wouldn't bother him if he just slipped out and went back to his cabin. They wouldn't even notice.

As he walked through the commons toward his cabin, a cold wind blew by, and he pulled his jacket tighter around him. Cold usually didn't bother him, and night was usually his favorite time to be out, but now, he felt on edge, like something was lurking in the darkness, waiting to pounce on him. It was too quiet. There were normally activities going on until at least ten at night, sometimes later, so it was too early for the camp to be this deathly silent. He looked around, half-expecting a monster to jump out and attack him, even though the camp was supposed to be safe and secure. Instead, he found Derek standing outside the Ares cabin cleaning his boots. He rolled his eyes and started walking again. He would much rather deal with a monster than have to deal with a child of Ares.

He was too late, though. Apparently Derek had spotted him, because he called out, "Hey, di Angelo! You can't just walk away without saying hello to someone! Didn't anyone ever teach you any manners?"

Nico rolled his eyes. All he wanted was to go to his cabin, listen to music, maybe watch a movie, and then go to sleep. Could he not have made it there without having to deal with this?

He turned to face him. "What do you want, Derek?"

"First of all, you can get rid of your bad attitude," Derek said as he dropped his boots and started to walk toward Nico. Nico instinctively backed away and reached for his sword, which was not there. Derek laughed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Hey, don't get all defensive. I wasn't coming over here to fight. I just wanna talk."

Nico looked around, expecting some other people to start emerging from the shadows, but there was no one else there. No backup for Derek, and no one to help Nico if Derek decided to start a fight. That was fine. He could take care of himself.

"So talk," he said, taking another step away.

Derek's eyes narrowed, and he smirked. "Why do you seem so nervous? Honestly, I just want to talk." He extended his hand in an act of friendship, but Nico just glared at him, waiting for him to continue. "Look, that was Ryan that was beating up on you, not me. You can't blame me for something Ryan did."

Nico raised an eyebrow. Obviously, even though they were both there, they had very different memories of the event. He did not want to be talking to Derek right now, and, though he had told himself that he was going to try not to hold grudges, he was thinking of ways that he could hurt Derek and make it look like an accident.

"Actually, I remember it differently than you do," Nico said. "Ryan might have been the one talking, but you were there, and you were following right along with what Ryan was doing."

"Well, what did you expect me to do?" Derek asked, shrugging innocently. "Look, just don't split the ground again, okay? There's no need for that. And there was no need for it then, either."

Nico felt a rage rise up inside of him. Did he honestly not feel bad for what he did? Did he not see how bad that could hurt people? He clenched his fist tightly, ready to lash out at the child of the war god, but he managed to control himself.

"Look, usually when people start attacking others for things like that, it means that they're dealing with the same problem or something similar," Nico said. "Something you're keeping to yourself, Derek?"

He didn't mean for it to sound taunting; he knew what it felt like to be taunted and ridiculed. And he didn't want Derek to reveal anything that he didn't feel comfortable revealing, because Nico knew how that felt too. But Derek did not break down and admit anything; instead, he looked confused, and that confusion soon turned to anger.

"Are you calling me a homo, di Angelo?" Derek shouted as he shoved him.

Nico staggered back. He didn't mean for it to go like this, and he didn't want it to go any further. He wished that he would have just kept walking and ignored Derek. He didn't need this confrontation. He just wanted to be left alone. That was all he had ever wanted here.

"No, listen," Nico tried to protest. "Listen, I didn't mean anything. I'll put all of this behind me if you do. I don't want to fight, okay? I just want to go to my cabin-"

Derek shoved him again, and then, from somewhere in the darkness, someone shouted, "Hey! What are you doing?"

Nico recognized the voice all too well, so he didn't have to look to see who had come to his rescue. Derek looked up, and once he spotted him, he smirked and looked back at Nico.

"Well, looks like your boyfriend has come to save you again," he said. "Does he know you have a huge, gay crush on him?" He shoved him again, but this time Percy was here, and he pushed Derek back.

"What do you think you're doing?" he said. "Hasn't Clarisse already dealt with you? Stop it, okay?"

Derek smiled and started to back away toward his cabin. "Fine, whatever." He looked at Nico, and his smile grew wider. "We'll talk later, okay?"

"No, you won't!" Percy shouted, and Derek did not argue. He turned his back on them and walked right into his cabin. Percy did not take his eyes off of him until he saw the door shut, and then he turned to Nico and asked, "Are you okay?"

Nico knew he shouldn't be, but he felt incredibly irritated at Percy for showing up and defending him. It was only making things worse on him. And if it continued, it was just going to get ten times harder.

"I don't need you taking care of me, Percy," he said. "I can take care of myself."

Percy frowned, looking hurt, and he moved away from him. "Okay, fine. Sorry. I'm just sick of them messing with you. I mean…listen, I'm gonna walk you to your cabin, okay?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "It's really not that far away. I can walk there myself."

"I know, but I just want to make sure," Percy said. "You ran out so fast. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay."

Nico stared at him for a moment, and then he shrugged and looked down at the ground, trying to suppress the smile that was trying to fight its way to the surface. This was not supposed to be happening. He was not supposed to feel this way. But he was starting to think that maybe Percy did care, and maybe he did consider them to be pretty good friends now, but that was all it would ever be. Still, now that Nico and Percy were spending more time together, this was the happiest that he had been since Bianca died. It felt great, but he didn't know how long it would last.

"I heard about what they were calling you," Percy said as they started walking. "Clarisse told me. But don't let it bother you, okay? I mean, you're not, right?"

Nico felt sick. His throat felt dry and it felt like there was something like a balloon expanding in his chest, about to pop any second.

"Sorry, it's none of my business," Percy said quickly. "I'm really sorry. Gods, I wasn't planning on asking you about it, especially like that. I'm sorry."

Nico stared at the ground, trying to think of something to say, but Percy's words just didn't seem to be connecting with him. It took him several seconds before he could process it, and even then, it was a struggle to speak. But eventually, he managed to say, "It's fine."

He glanced at Percy and saw that Percy looked all nervous and jittery now. They were at the Hades cabin now, and all Nico wanted to do was run inside and lock the door and not come out. He planned on telling Percy everything, one day, maybe, but not now. Now was too soon. He was not ready. But he did not run. He just stopped and looked at Percy, waiting for him to say something, but it didn't seem like there was anything that either of them could think to say.

Percy spoke after a few moments. "I wouldn't care if you were, though. Really. I know some people do, but I don't know why. I wouldn't care."

_Yes, you would, _Nico thought. _You say you wouldn't, but you would. Jason might not have cared, but he wasn't the object of my affections. Of course he wouldn't. But you would, if you knew how I really felt. How could you not? _

"Well, I'm not," he said, in the most convincing way he could muster. "So you don't have anything to be concerned about."

Percy frowned and stared at him for a really long time, like he was trying to look right into Nico's mind and see if he was lying, but, thank the gods, Percy wasn't very good at reading emotions, because eventually he just shrugged and said, "Okay. But if you were…"

"I'm not," Nico said firmly, and it hurt. He did not want to lie, but he didn't want Percy to know anything. Percy was not entirely dumb, and he would probably put two and two together eventually. In fact, he was probably doing it right now. He probably knew that Nico was lying, but he didn't push him any further, which was good. Tonight was not the night for confessions of love.

"Sorry I asked," Percy said, and Nico rolled his eyes. His patience was wearing thin.

"It's okay," he said as he opened the door to the cabin. "I'm going to go to bed now."

"Okay," Percy said, but he didn't leave. He just stood there, staring at him, and it was incredibly frustrating because, for once, Nico had no idea what was going on in Percy's head. He was completely unreadable.

"Um…" Percy said, after another long minute of silence, "last week you said something about being in love with someone that wouldn't ever understand or notice you. I mean…um…" He rubbed his neck and looked down at the ground, obviously getting nervous about the subject. "Well, you said that I don't know anything about you and I don't understand, and I just…I kind of wanted to…to understand, you know? You don't have to tell me anything. I mean…" He sighed and did not continue or even look up. Apparently he was rethinking ever saying anything.

Nico considered what he should say. Most of the time, his defenses went up when anyone tried to delve too much into his personal life, but for some reason, he didn't feel that way right now. He didn't like Percy asking, but he felt comfortable with Percy, for the most part, and he didn't feel like Percy was just trying to be nosy. Percy was kind of an idiot sometimes, and he didn't really understand what was appropriate and what wasn't. So he didn't get angry. Instead, he just said, "I'm tired. I want to go to bed."

"Okay," Percy said again, but then he shook his head and reached out for Nico before he could walk inside and shut the door. He grabbed his wrist to stop him, and Nico looked down in surprise. Percy did not release him, just stood there with his hand on Nico's arm, and Nico wished that he would let go because he was pretty sure that Percy could tell his heart was accelerating right now, but he did not push him away or move away from his grasp. "Tell me something, though. Anything. We're friends, and I don't know anything about you."

That's because there was nothing he needed to know. Nico's life was not even remotely interesting. Most of it had been spent in a hotel, without him even realizing it. He should be really old right now, like…eighty-five. That's how old he should be right now. But he was fourteen, almost fifteen. That's really all Percy knew. That was really the only interesting thing, and Nico didn't even really think it was that interesting. Really, it was just sad, and he hated that it was like that. He had spent years in that hotel, and he didn't feel like anything happened. He couldn't remember anything about it, and he really didn't remember much before that. A few memories here and there, but things were starting to fade.

"Um…" Nico said, trying to think of something, but nothing seemed like it really mattered. "Well, when I was younger, Bianca and I had this fluffy, white cat that we named Snowball, but she ran away and we couldn't find her. She was the only pet we ever had, and I loved her, and I cried when she ran away."

The corner of Percy's mouth turned up into a smile, and he laughed and released Nico's arm. "Really? I never really thought you would be an animal person."

Nico shrugged. "I like Mrs. O'Leary. I take care of her."

"But Mrs. O'Leary is a hellhound!" Percy exclaimed. "I'd say that's about as far away from a fluffy, white cat named Snowball as you can get."

Nico smiled a little. He hadn't ever told anyone about Snowball, but he was glad that he had now. Even though it was just a little thing, it felt nice, talking about his past with Percy. Maybe there were other things that he could tell him, all the little things like Snowball, and maybe some of the big things too. But all in good time. Snowball was enough for tonight, he thought.

"I had a cat too, once," Percy said. "I found it in an alley, and I snuck it into the apartment without my mom knowing and kept it in my room and fed it my leftovers. Mom's allergies started acting up one day, and she came into my room and found the cat, and I had to get rid of it. Her name was Patches, and I only kept her for a week, but she was a good cat."

Nico nodded, and his smile grew a little wider as he looked down at the ground. He didn't really have anything else to say, so he opened the door a little wider and said, "I think I'm going to watch a movie and then go to bed."

"You've said that three times and you haven't gone anywhere," Percy pointed out with a grin. "Let's talk some more. What's your favorite movie?"

Nico stared at him for a moment before shutting the door. He wasn't sure why Percy was so eager to talk, especially to him, but he couldn't say that he didn't like it. He didn't really want to talk, but he would listen to Percy, if that's what Percy wanted to do, because Nico really didn't have anything to say, nothing interesting to tell like Percy did. But he would listen to Percy, because everything about Percy was interesting to him. Maybe Percy was just talking to him to keep himself from feeling lonely, but that was okay, because if Percy was here, Nico wouldn't feel lonely either, like he normally did. They could keep each other company and make each other feel better, though Nico really didn't think he was very good at cheering people up and putting them in a good mood. But Percy always put him in a better mood, which was strange, because he was the only person who could do that. He hated Percy Jackson for that, and for every other feeling he gave him.

"Can we go inside?" Percy asked.

Nico had shut the door for a reason. He wasn't too keen on letting Jason in his cabin last week, because no one ever came in there, so he really didn't want Percy in there right now. Not just the two of them, just talking.

"I'd rather not," Nico said.

Percy shrugged. "Fine, so we'll stay out here. It's cold, but it's okay. So what's your favorite movie?"

Nico looked away from him and scanned the commons. Now there were other people outside of their cabins, including Derek again, who was staring directly at Nico, watching him and waiting. Nico immediately looked away. "I don't have a favorite movie," he said. "I just watch whatever's on."

"Is it someone from the Hecate cabin?" Percy asked.

Nico stared at him in confusion. It took him a moment to realize that they were back on the subject of who he had been talking about last week, the person he was in love with that would never notice him. He sighed. How to escape from it now?

"One of my favorite movies is _Fight Club_," he said.

Percy ignored him. "Do you not trust me?"

Nico should have gone in a long time ago and made Percy leave. He knew that Percy just wanted to know more about him, and it was probably interesting to know that Nico liked anyone, because it didn't seem like he ever had before. Percy was interested, and that was the only reason why he was asking personal questions. He cared, at least in a friendly way.

"Of course I do," Nico said, and, just because he had been wondering for so long, he asked, "Do you trust me?"

Percy frowned, hesitating, thinking the question over, and then, after what felt like an eternity, answered, "I do now, yeah. Is it someone I know?"

Nico carefully avoided the question again. "My favorite colors are black and red, in case you were wondering."

Percy once again ignored him. "Piper?"

Nico sighed. "No, it's not important. Listen, I think I'm going to go inside-"

"It wasn't Annabeth?"

Nico tensed. "No."

"Rachel?"

"No, it's-"

"Oh, gods! It's Clarisse, isn't it? No wonder you didn't want to tell me. Not judging you, but-"

"Percy!" Nico shouted, and Percy looked at him, frowning. "It's not important, okay? And no, it's not Clarisse. It doesn't matter."

He could see that Percy was nervous, and he could tell that his brain was finally starting to work. He was starting to fit pieces together, but he wasn't quite there yet. Nico didn't want him to be there, not now. He didn't want him to figure it all out. But he could tell that he was starting to, no matter how many times Nico denied it all. Percy knew what was going on; he just _chose _not to know. He was pretending like he was still completely oblivious, but things were starting to make sense to him now.

"My favorite colors are blue and green, if that wasn't obvious," Percy said. "You know, in case you were wondering."

Nico stared at him, not feeling any fury toward Percy whatsoever, which was strange. Usually he would be so mad about something like this, but he wasn't. The only thing he cared about was the fact that Percy was starting to figure things out, and that scared him more than any monster he had ever faced before.

"I'm going to go inside," he said. "You should go back to your cabin too. It's cold."

Percy looked like he was going to argue, but then he nodded. "Okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…I mean…I didn't want it to seem like I was getting into your business or anything. I just…I want to help…"

"It's okay," Nico said, opening the door again. "But I don't need any help. But um…" He decided that he was going to lie. That was the best way to stop Percy from figuring anything out even more. Well, it would hinder him, not stop him. Eventually it would come out, but not tonight. "Yeah…yeah, it's someone from the Hecate cabin."

"Oh," Percy said, though it didn't sound like he quite believed him. "Okay. I shouldn't have asked, though. I'm sorry. And I won't help, if you don't want me to. It's just…that's what friends do, you know? They help each other."

Nico nodded. "I know. But there's nothing you can help me with, I promise. It's my problem, not yours. There's nothing you can do."

Percy looked hurt. He didn't like being told he couldn't do something, Nico knew. He was always there, wanting to help his friends, but this time, he couldn't, and Nico knew that bothered him. But there was really nothing he could do. There would never be anything he could do, except maybe love Nico back, but that wasn't going to happen. So there was nothing.

"Goodnight," Percy said

"Goodnight."

And then Percy turned his back and started to walk toward the Poseidon cabin, looking back only once, but Nico had already shut the door.


	9. Day 41

**Okay, so this was supposed to be posted earlier, like on Christmas Day, but it's past midnight, so technically, this is a day late. I want to start by saying that I hope you all had a very merry Christmas, or, if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a wonderful day. Secondly, I want to say that part of the reason why this is late is because I was watching Time of the Doctor and just...feels, and the other part was the fact that the website wouldn't let me upload for like an hour for some unknown reason. Technology hates me. Thirdly, I would like to say that this, in my opinion, is not a great chapter, simply because I'm not the best writer when it comes to writing happy stuff and this is Christmas and warm and happy and fuzzy and pure fluff. So yeah. Not entirely proud of it, but we'll see. And fourthly, I want to say thank you to all of you, and I hope you enjoy! **

* * *

Day_ 41 _

"Piper, I don't know what you're talking about," Leo said, gesturing to himself and Calypso. "We obviously have the tackiest Christmas sweaters here."

"In your dreams, Valdez," Piper said. "Jason and I went to a thrift shop to get these. We win."

"Well, Calypso and I made ours, so I think we win," Leo argued.

"Guys, guys, guys," Percy said, moving in between them and pushing them away from each other. "All of you have some pretty awesome Christmas sweaters, but I think we can all agree that mine wins."

Everyone in the room looked down at what he was wearing, a green sweater with a giant gingerbread man in the middle and huge snowflakes and gumdrops around it, with Christmas lights hanging down from the neck. No one argued with him. Instead, they all started laughing and joking around with one another as they drank their hot chocolate and ate their cookies. Calypso was in a better mood than she was a week ago, when she was so confused about everything that was going on. She looked like she actually enjoyed all of these new holiday traditions that she was being introduced to. And Clarisse was still trying to seem irritable and grumpy, but it was obvious that the Christmas spirit was starting to get to her.

However, it was not getting to Nico much at all. He used to love Christmas when he was little, but now, it just seemed like another normal day. He used to love staying at home with his sister and his mother, drinking eggnog and decorating the tree and singing Christmas carols together. It had always been fun to him then, but it just seemed kind of pointless now. He hadn't had anyone to celebrate with, not since he got to Camp Half-Blood, and he had just been forced to spend every single holiday alone. He had drawn farther and farther into himself, separating himself from all the other campers and not participating in the same things that they did. Celebrating Christmas, and every other holiday, alone was not fun, so he just stopped celebrating altogether. And now that he was here, at Percy's mom's Christmas party, it was just awkward and uncomfortable, and he didn't know what to do. Christmas was a time for family and friends to get together and spend time together, but Nico did not have family outside of Hazel, and he did not consider very many of these people his friends.

So, while everyone else was standing in the middle of the room talking and laughing and enjoying themselves, Nico stood apart from them at the window, where he could look down at the street below. No one seemed to notice that he was not taking part in their merriment, but he was okay with that. If someone noticed and brought him over to the group, he wasn't sure he would know what to do. He didn't know any jokes to tell, and he wasn't the least bit funny or interesting, so no one would really want to listen to him. He was glad that he was out of his cabin and not alone on the holiday, but at the same time, he wanted to retreat back to his old ways and be alone, because he didn't know what to do with a crowd. It was discomforting.

"Sweetie, do you want some cookies or something?" someone asked from behind him, and he looked back to see that it was Sally Jackson, dressed in her tacky Christmas sweater as well and wearing a beautiful smile on her face. "Are you okay?"

Nico sighed. He was tired of people asking if he was okay. Of course he wasn't, but that didn't mean that he wanted to acknowledge it. He didn't want people to ask and feel sorry for him and want to know what was wrong. But how was Sally Jackson supposed to know that? She didn't know anything about him.

"No, thank you," he answered. "I don't need anything. I'm fine."

She didn't seem like she was very convinced, but she smiled and nodded. "Okay then. Aren't you Nico di Angelo? The one that was up north at that school with your sister? I've heard Percy mention you a few times."

Nico frowned. Well, that couldn't be good. Percy had only been home once since the war, so anything that Sally had heard about Nico from Percy was probably something regarding the fact that he was untrustworthy and disloyal. But that was before the Giant War, and even before the Titan War, when Percy felt that way, so maybe Sally had heard something a little nicer since then.

"Right," Nico said. "Well, I'm not really sure how to feel about that. Good or bad?"

He usually wasn't concerned if people were talking about him, because he knew that most of the things people said about him were bad, but he didn't care. This time, though, it was Percy, and why would Percy be talking to his mother about Nico? Nico genuinely hoped that it was good things.

"He Iris-messaged me and told me all about him and Annabeth, and then he told me that he felt really alone and upset, but you'd been really nice and supportive of him over the past month or so," Sally said. "Annabeth was always his best friend, you know, so it was tough on him, but he's getting through it, and I think we have his friends to thank for that. But mostly you. He told me all that you've done for him, so thank you for taking care of him when I couldn't."

And suddenly, she was hugging him, and Nico wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to do. He didn't really plan on getting hugs from Percy's mother any time soon. Or at all, really. Hugs were not his thing, especially with people that he didn't really know. In fact, any human contact was not really his thing. So he didn't hug her back.

"Oh, I see," Sally said as she pulled away from him. "You're not the hugging type. Okay, well, that's fine. I'm sorry." She smiled. "Still, thank you for everything you're doing for Percy. He has several friends, but he needs a good friend like you to help him sometimes."

She walked away, over to the other side of the room where her husband and her adult friends were, and Nico was left alone again, staring around the room at the lights strung up on the walls and the Christmas tree in the corner and the other various Christmas decorations set up all over the place. So Percy was talking to his mother about him. That made him feel better.

"Nico! Come on, we're opening presents now!"

Nico looked over and saw that it was Percy who was calling him and waving him over. He followed everyone into the small living room area, where the presents were waiting underneath a smaller Christmas tree beside the couch.

Piper sat next to the tree, trying to contain her excitement, but Nico could tell that she was about to jump right out of her seat. He supposed, with her father being famous and all, that this was probably one of the only real Christmases that she had ever gotten, so she had good reason to be excited. In fact, they all did. Now that he thought about it, none of them really had any family to return to for the holidays. They were all misfits, and this was probably the only time in a while that they had all been gathered for a holiday to celebrate with others. No wonder they were in such good spirits. For the first time in years, they all seemed to belong somewhere at Christmas instead of being neglected. And Nico could be in good spirits too, if he allowed himself to be, because these people were accepting him, whether he considered them friends or not. This was probably the closest thing to family he would get to on Christmas, and, secretly, he was grateful for that.

He sat down next to Rachel on the floor, and Percy ended up sitting next to him. Nico glanced over at him, trying to think of something to say, but before he could even open his mouth, Percy asked, "Dude, why were you hugging my mom?"

"Um…" Nico was very aware that he was blushing, but he wasn't even sure why, so he looked down at the floor, refusing to meet Percy's eyes, and hoped he didn't notice. "She was just thanking me…I don't know why. For helping you, or something, but I didn't really do anything."

"Oh," Percy said, and then rolled his eyes. "Sorry about that then. I love her, but sometimes she gets really loving and sappy, and I know you don't like that."

"It's fine," Nico said. "I didn't mind." That was a lie, but he was trying to be nice.

"And don't say you didn't do anything," Percy said. "You did a lot. I'm really glad you've been there for the past month."

Nico looked up at Percy, but he saw that Percy was looking straight ahead, not paying attention to him. That meant that he was feeling nervous or self-conscious about what he had said. He wouldn't even look in Nico's direction.

Nico wanted to tell him, "I've always been there for you," but instead, he ended up just saying, "Thanks for inviting me."

Not that Percy was listening anyway. He was glaring across the room at Clarisse, who was shoved in between Grover and Leo and looking highly uncomfortable. She was glaring back, so obviously, there was about to be some sort of argument. Nico rolled his eyes.

Clarisse was the first to break the eye contact, and instead, she looked at Piper and Jason. "McLean! Can we hurry this up? Hand me my present."

"Clarisse, you're not wearing your tacky Christmas sweater," Percy said calmly with a small smirk. "Therefore, you can't tell anyone that's wearing festive clothing what to do."

"And besides, we're going around the circle, starting with Calypso, since she's the newest to our group," Piper said as she picked up a neatly wrapped present from underneath the tree and handing it to Calypso. "Open it and then guess where it came from."

Piper hardly ever got excited like this, but she was practically bouncing up and down on the couch in ecstasy. Nico guessed that the present had come from Piper, and Calypso must have guessed the same, because she raised an eyebrow and smiled knowingly at Piper as she took the gift. She slowly unwrapped it and opened the box that it was in, and then pulled out a purple scarf.

"Piper?" she said. "Thank you, I think it's lovely."

"Not me," Piper replied. "Sorry."

"Um…wow, I don't know," Calypso said, looking around the circle at everyone, trying to read people's facial expressions. She pursed her lips, and her eyebrows knitted together in confusion, and then she shrugged. "I have no idea then."

Jason raised his hand. "It was from me."

"But I picked it out!" Piper added. "Even though I have absolutely no taste when it comes to clothing and accessories."

Calypso laughed. "So technically it was from you."

Piper shrugged. "Well, Jason was there, so go ahead and give him all the credit for it." She slid her hand into Jason's and snuggled up closer to him, and he smiled and kissed her on the cheek.

Nico rolled his eyes and looked away from them. Just when he thought he might be able to get into the Christmas spirit, at least a little, they had to remind him that he had absolutely no one on the holidays. And when he looked away, to the other side of the room, he saw that two of Sally's guests were standing underneath the mistletoe kissing. Gods, was there anywhere safe in here? He settled on looking across the room at Leo and Calypso, who absolutely refused any PDA, which he was thankful for.

"Percy's next!" Piper exclaimed as she passed his gift over to him.

"What? No," Clarisse protested. "You said we were going around the circle."

"Yeah!" Leo said. "I was next. I want my present."

"I lied," Piper said with a shrug. "Besides, Percy should go next because he invited us all over when he could have just let us stay at camp. Go ahead and open your present, Percy."

Nico looked over at Percy and watched as he ripped the wrapping paper off the gift excitedly, like a child on Christmas morning. That made Nico smile a little, and he looked around the circle again, trying to figure out who had gotten the present before Percy had all the wrapping off. And it was fairly obvious who had gotten it. Clarisse. That would explain her behavior last week when she got so irritated.

"What?" Percy said as he held up his gift. "Tennis balls? Um…I don't play tennis." He looked around the circle, looking disappointed and confused, like a puppy that had gotten its toy taken away, and then he sighed in frustration. "Clarisse?"

"You're darn right it was me," Clarisse said. "I got you some balls, because you don't have any."

"Haha," Percy said humorlessly as he placed the present on the floor, though a few other people were chuckling, including Clarisse. "You're so clever, Clarisse. Absolutely hilarious."

He acted like he was sneezing and then flipped her off. But that didn't seem to faze her at all. She opened her mouth, ready with a witty comeback, but Piper stopped her before she could say anything. "Okay! Why don't we let someone else open their present?"

Leo went next, and he guessed everyone in the circle until Nico was the last one left. It was not the best gift in the world, but Nico had gotten Jason's help on picking it out since he knew Leo better, and it seemed to entertain Leo rather well. It was a remote-control helicopter, which they assumed he would like to play with, but as soon as it was out of the box, he started taking it apart, claiming that he could make a better helicopter than that one.

Clarisse opened hers, and she almost immediately guessed that it was from Piper. It was a brand new, leather sword sheath. Naturally, she loved it, even though she tried not to show it. Piper let out a breath of relief. Nico could only imagine how stressful it must have been picking something out for Clarisse.

Grover received a gift card from Percy to some Mexican restaurant, which he seemed pretty happy about since he loved enchiladas so much, and then he started eating the envelope that his card had come in.

Nico came next, which made him incredibly nervous. As soon as Piper placed that gift in his hands, he knew that all of their attention would be on him, and he didn't like that. It felt like he was standing on a stage all by himself with a spotlight shining down on him in front of hundreds of people and he had forgotten his lines. Gods, he was just opening a present. But then he had to guess who got it for him, and it was just incredibly stressful. He hated, _hated _being the center of attention.

It was aviator glasses. He understood how someone could have gotten the idea, but he really didn't know _why_. Had anyone ever seen him wear sunglasses? No. He didn't even go out into the sun enough to use them. It had to be someone that didn't know him very well. Who was left? Rachel and Calypso and Grover. He was not close friends with any of them, so it could be any of them. Luckily, spending so much time alone gave him the excellent ability of reading people's facial expressions and body movements.

"Calypso?" he said.

She smiled and shrugged, but he could tell, by the way she was all tensed up, that she was a little nervous. "Yeah, sorry. I didn't know what else to get. I mean, I noticed you wear an aviator jacket, and I asked Leo, and he said-"

"It's fine," Nico said. "Thanks." He set the gift aside, and for about half a second, everyone fell silent, but then the noise started up again as Rachel received her gift. It was strange, how they had all fought in the war together and gotten to the point where they could halfway trust each other, strange how these people called themselves his friends, and they were still nervous and afraid of his reactions. Like they thought he was going to hate them or yell at them, or even hurt them.

After Rachel opened her gift (a bracelet from Grover) and Jason opened his (a very expensive-looking watch from Rachel), the group sort of dispersed, and Nico was left on his own again. He watched all of them, having so much fun, and tried to think back to the last time that he had had fun on Christmas, but his past was just so foggy sometimes. He wasn't even sure if any of his Christmas memories were proper memories, or just something that he had made up to make himself feel better. Either way, thinking about the past just made him feel even worse, and he wished that he was normal and could feel the same things that everyone else felt. He wished that he could be normal, or as normal as a demigod could get, so that he could enjoy himself, and maybe people might actually like him. But he was not normal, and there was no changing that.

The music was too loud. Sally had turned on some old Christmas music, and the adults were dancing to it and laughing and drinking and having so much fun, but it was just giving Nico a headache.

In front of him, Jason and Piper were under the mistletoe. Jason kissed Piper on the lips lightly, and then Piper wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. Nico felt like he was going to be sick watching them being all loving and romantic, but after a few seconds, once they had pulled away from each other and just stood there gazing into each other's eyes, he realized that that was not the problem at all. He did not hate them for showing love toward one another; he hated them for having someone to love when he had nothing. He hated that they would always have someone to kiss under the mistletoe, and he would never have anyone. He would never get to have that experience. Ever. Unless he just stood underneath the mistletoe and waited for someone to come along, but that wouldn't matter, it wouldn't count, because it would never be the one person that he cared about the most.

"Hey, Nico?"

Nico looked up and saw that Percy was standing there with his ridiculous smile looking completely and utterly perfectly in the dim lights of the apartment. In the position that he was standing in, if Nico squinted, it would look like they were the ones underneath the mistletoe, not Jason and Piper. If only that were the case.

"I know we were only supposed to get presents for the one person, but I got you something too," Percy said. "You know, as a kind of thank you for putting up with me even though I've been incredibly annoying and depressed. Come on, it's in my bedroom."

Nico's throat felt dry, and for a moment his mind went completely blank, but then he started functioning normally again, and he realized that Percy's hand was around his arm and he was dragging him to the back of the apartment, where no one was. Percy had gotten him a gift. And he hadn't gotten Percy anything at all.

"Okay, it's not much, but I thought you might enjoy it," Percy said as he opened the door and led Nico inside. "Well, maybe. We'll see, I guess. Close your eyes."

Nico was liking this less and less by the second. He looked around the room, trying to catch a glimpse of what it might be, but he didn't see anything. A bed, a mirror, a dresser, a nightstand, a closet. There wasn't anything else. He glanced at Percy in confusion, and Percy simply motioned urgently for him to close his eyes, so he did.

"Okay, you can open them," Percy said, after a few seconds of tense silence.

Nico hesitated for a short second, but when he opened his eyes, he saw that there was nothing to be nervous about at all. Percy was standing in front of him with a huge grin on his face holding up a fluffy, white kitten with wide, green eyes that looked pretty much the exact same as his childhood kitten Snowball. And he laughed, because it just seemed so completely ridiculous that Percy would care enough to even listen to Nico talk about his cat, much less go and get him another one.

"So do you love him? Are you going to keep him?" Percy asked. "Oh, sorry. It's a boy, not a girl like your other cat was, but I didn't think you would mind. Well, I think it's a boy…"

"I wasn't really planning on getting another pet," Nico said as he took the cat away from Percy. "I mean, I've never really taken care of anything by myself before."

"Well, you don't have to take care of it by yourself," Percy said. "I'll help you. Besides…" He reached over and scratched the kitten behind its ears, and it mewed in delight. "I've had him for a few days, and I think I've gotten a little attached to him. But he's yours, officially."

The corner of Nico's mouth turned up into a smile. "Thank you." The kitten wasn't trying to get away from him, like most animals attempted to do. It didn't seem to know, or seem to care, what he was. _Oh, you're a son of Hades and everywhere you go death follows? That's fine. I'm a kitten, and I don't care. I'm still going to cuddle you. _

"What should I name him?" he asked.

"Snowball 2.0," Percy answered with a small smile.

Nico returned the smile. "Snowball Upgraded."

Percy laughed. "Okay, yeah. Or, you can just call him Snowflake. It's simple, and it still pays homage to your old cat."

"Homage. Another big word for Percy Jackson."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Okay, listen, I am not as stupid as people think I am."

Nico smiled a little and looked down at the kitten. "I know. Snowflake it is."

"So you're keeping him?" Percy asked. "Great! I'm so glad you like him. I wasn't sure, but I got him anyway, and…" He paused, sucked in a breath, and said, "Thank you, seriously. I've been really irritating lately. I've irritated myself. But you didn't give up, and you helped, and I feel…a hundred times better than I did before. Can I hug you now? I'm gonna hug you now."

Nico did not have time to protest (not that he was going to) before Percy had thrown his arms around him and pulled him closer. For a moment, Nico didn't react at all, but then he wrapped his one free arm around Percy and soaked in the moment, because he knew it would gone soon. This was not like the hug that he had received when he got back to Camp Half-Blood; no, this was real, and it was the most wonderful thing. Human contact was not so bad, he decided, when it was someone that you actually liked. He would stay here in this moment forever, if he could.

But he couldn't, he knew. Unrequited love and all that. He needed to get away before he became trapped and there was no way out. Well, he was already in that situation, but he thought that he better not make it any worse. So he was the first to pull away.

"Sorry, I think we were suffocating the cat," he said. Snowflake meowed in response.

"Yeah, whoops," Percy said, patting the cat on the head. "Well, maybe we should get back out there then. I'm really hungry. Let's get something to eat."

"I'm not hungry," Nico said.

"No," Percy said, his voice suddenly turning so much harsher than it was before. "No, you are not pulling that on me today, okay? It's Christmas, and you're going to eat, even if I have to shove food down your throat. You have to eat sometime."

Nico frowned and set the cat down on the floor. "Okay, fine. I'll eat something."

"Good." Percy opened the door, and Nico followed him back outside to the party.

The party had been so frustrating and miserable before, but now it seemed like it was getting better. Nico was in a better mood now, so maybe he could at least attempt to enjoy himself.

"Percy!" Piper motioned for Percy to come over to where she and Jason were still standing, close to the mistletoe, but not under it. "Come here. I have something."

Percy's brow furrowed in confusion, but he went over there anyway, and Nico followed, even though he wasn't sure if he should or not. Piper was holding out a piece of paper that was all red and green and Christmas-y, and in the middle of it, there was a photo of Annabeth in California. Percy stared at it for a long moment, like he wasn't even sure that he was seeing it correctly, and then he looked up at Piper.

"It's a Christmas card from Annabeth," Piper explained. "I got it a couple of days ago. I don't know why she sent one. I guess she wanted to keep to the mortal Christmas traditions. But I thought you should have it."

Percy reached to take it, but then he drew his hand back, looking confused and distressed just by looking at a picture of Annabeth. Nico watched him carefully, trying to figure out what could be going on in his head, but he really wouldn't know.

Finally, Percy said, "No, you keep it. She sent it to you, not me."

Piper frowned. "You sure?"

Percy hesitated, reaching for the card again, but then pulled his hand away and nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure. It's yours."

Piper shrugged and walked away with it, and Percy watched her for just a moment. Nico could tell that he was hurting on the inside just a little, because that was the first time that he had ever turned down anything that had come from Annabeth. But it was good, because he was moving forward, away from Annabeth, at least for now. Now, he was realizing that his entire life didn't depend on whether or not he and Annabeth were together. He was going to move on.

Nico looked up and noticed that he was underneath the mistletoe, as was Percy, and he found himself hoping that something would happen, even though he knew it wouldn't. Who even thought of hanging up a freaking plant and kissing underneath it at Christmas? The thought frustrated him, but not as much as the fact that he wanted to kiss Percy so badly and he couldn't and that stupid plant was making fun of him for it.

"Come on," Percy said, nodding toward the table. "Let's get food."

Nico sighed and looked up as he followed after Percy. One step at a time. Maybe one day. Miracles could happen.


	10. Day 47

**I really don't have anything to say, other than thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this. I'm sorry, this is just a couple of hours late, and I'm really sorry if there's any grammatical or spelling errors in here, but please try to ignore them. I was watching the New Years Rockin' Eve while I was writing this. I love you all! Please continue to read, review, favorite, and enjoy! **

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_Day 47 _

Nico awoke suddenly, feeling like something was pulling the air from his lungs and his life was slowly being taken away from him. It took him several moments of sucking in breath, making sure that he was in fact breathing correctly and he was completely alive, before he realized that it was just a nightmare. He was not back in Tartarus fighting for his sanity and his life; he was in his bed in the Hades cabin, and it was New Year's Eve. He was safe. He was fine.

He looked over and saw that Snowflake was up and staring at him, his eyes wide in curiosity, and Nico sighed and managed a smile. He reached over to pet the cat, and he realized his hands were shaking badly. He took another deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to get a grip on reality. This was real. He had been dreaming. He was not in Tartarus, and he would never have to go back again. No more wars, hopefully. He was safe for now.

"I'm sorry," he said to the cat. "I didn't mean to wake you up. Sometimes I have nightmares, and I have a hard time snapping back to reality. I get so scared. I don't…" He stopped, taking a shaky breath, and lay back down. "I don't get scared that easily, but thinking about going back there…it's terrifying."

Snowflake stared at him and then meowed and jumped off the bed. He disappeared somewhere in the darkness, and Nico rolled his eyes. "Not that you care," he said. "You're just a cat. You don't understand. I don't even know why I was talking to you. I don't know why I'm still talking. You'll never get it. No one gets it."

He rolled over on his side and stared at the wall. On the nightstand next to the bed was a couple of Mythomagic cards (the ones that had survived his blind rage and destruction after receiving the news about Bianca), a black and white picture of Bianca and him that had been taken shortly before they got stuck in the Lotus Hotel, and that stupid figurine of his father that Bianca had died trying to get for him. Just looking at it made him irritated and he wanted to get rid of it, but he kept it, just because Bianca had died for it. For him.

"I wish you could have met Bianca," Nico said, once again speaking to the cat. "You would have liked her, I think. Everyone that met her liked her. She was the kindest person in the entire world, and she was the best sister that I could have asked for."

He was met with silence, though he thought he might have heard the cat purring somewhere in the room. He sighed, rolling back over onto his back, and then there was a knock at the door, which startled him back up.

There were only two people that would possibly come over, Percy or Jason, but he didn't see any reason why either of them would be over. And then he remembered that there was supposed to be some stupid New Year's party on the beach tonight, and all the campers were going, so naturally, he was being dragged along as well. But surely it wasn't time for that?

Another knock sounded, and then Jason's voice, calling for him. He sighed. Apparently it was time for the party, and he had been sleeping longer than he thought. He got up from the bed and searched in the darkness for his jacket and found that Snowflake was lying on it, and he was asleep and purring. That was fine. He didn't mind the cold much anyway. It had only been six days and it was as if the cat had already taken over everything inside the cabin.

He opened the door and found that Jason and Piper were both standing outside, all bundled up in their big winter jackets and scarves and gloves and everything. And they were matching. Jason and Piper were the type of couple, Nico had decided, that you either really wanted to punch or the type that you were really jealous of. Nico was somewhere in between.

"Hey, Nico!" Piper said far too cheerfully for his liking. "The party starts in a few minutes. We didn't want you to miss it." She took a step closer and peeked around him into the cabin. "It's really dark in there. Is it always dark?"

Nico did not answer, but instead glanced at Jason to let him know that Piper was already irritating him. Jason managed a weak smile and pulled Piper back.

"Hey, Pipes? Why don't you go and get Leo? Make sure he's ready for the party too," Jason said.

"But I saw him leave his cabin a few minutes ago," Piper replied, and then, after a pause, said, "Oh! I'm sorry. I get it. You wanna do the guy talk…about the guy stuff…no girls allowed. Okay, I respect that, yeah."

Nico could tell by the way she spoke that she in fact did _not _respect that. He wouldn't have minded if she stayed, but apparently, Jason had something to talk about that did not involve Piper, and that could only mean one thing. Piper glanced at Nico and smiled, a knowing smile, like she could see right through him and right into the depths of his soul. It made him highly uncomfortable, and he was suddenly very glad that Jason had told her to go away.

"It's colder than I thought it was," Nico said, once Piper had gone away. He went back inside to get his jacket, not caring if he woke the cat up or not, and then, after shaking the fur off as best he could, returned outside.

"You know, she's really not that bad once you get to know her," Jason said as they started walking toward the beach. "I mean, it took me a while, you know, since I had my memory taken and all, but Piper's actually the coolest girl I've ever met. And that's why I love her. I think you would like her too, if you got to know her better."

"I do like Piper," Nico said, trying to think of something else to talk about, but the only thing that was in his mind was the way Piper had looked at him, and it made him angry. "Um…does Piper know?"

Nico saw Jason tense. It was only for a second, but he saw it. Jason was really good at keeping his cool, but sometimes he slipped. Like now. "Know what?" he asked. Nico didn't answer, and Jason knew that he could not play dumb like Percy could, so he sighed and said, "Look, I'm not going to lie to you. Piper _does _know, but I didn't tell her. In fact, she told me, and I acted like I didn't even know. She's a child of the love goddess. You should have expected that she would find out something sooner or later."

They were silent for a while. Nico wanted to be angry about it, but what was there to be angry about? Jason was right. He didn't tell Piper anything, and, being a child of the love goddess, she could probably tell, sooner or later. Ryan knew too. He wondered if the whole Aphrodite cabin knew and they talked about it, or if they even cared, or if they were planning on messing with him in the future. This was the reason that he had run away from camp in the first place, because he couldn't hide here. Here, he was naked and exposed, and everyone could see all his little secrets, eventually.

"Are you mad?" Jason asked.

Nico hesitated, mulling it over for just a few seconds and then, taking a deep breath, said, "No." He was not angry, but he was afraid.

"Okay," Jason said. He didn't sound like he quite believed him. "Hey, how's the cat thing going? I understand that you and Percy are taking care of it together? That's…interesting."

"Okay, first of all," Nico said, "we are _not _taking care of the cat together. It's mine, not his. He gave it to me. I've taken it to his cabin once, but that's it. We are not taking care of a cat together. That's something that a couple would do, isn't it? Like you and Piper. You could take care of a cat together. But Percy and I are not taking care of a cat together."

Jason stared at him for a moment, and then he laughed, which irritated Nico to no end. "Okay, no reason to get all defensive. I was joking anyway. I mean…I don't know, I've noticed some things about Percy since Annabeth left. Things that I didn't notice before. He really cares about you."

"Barely," Nico replied. "But even if he does care about me, it's just in a friendly kind of way, and that's all it'll ever be. Which is why, maybe, Percy and I just shouldn't be friends at all."

Jason stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face Nico. Nico stopped as well, waiting for Jason to start lecturing him and telling him how ridiculous and overdramatic he was being. But no lecture came at all. Instead, Jason's voice was calm as he said, "You don't mean that."

Nico shrugged. "I could. Maybe it'd be easy. I've left the camp before, completely detached myself from everyone here. I could do it again."

"You could," Jason said, "but you wouldn't. You care too much. You wouldn't admit that, but you do. You wouldn't leave Percy, not now, not since Annabeth walked out of his life."

They were at the beach now. It was surprisingly warm here, like a spring night, not at all like winter. There were people all over the place, though not as many as there usually were at camp. Just the ones that had decided not to stay with their families over the holidays. Some sort of terrible pop music was blaring, and there were people dancing and laughing and sitting around a bonfire roasting marshmallows and hotdogs. Couples sat by the sea, cuddled up with each other on blankets, away from the noise. Leo and Calypso were apart from everyone as well, but it appeared as if Leo was trying to fix some fireworks that he had probably made himself, and Calypso was getting irritated with him.

"It's a party," Jason said, as if Nico didn't already know that. "There are plenty of opportunities for socializing here. Make new friends. You'll realize that not everyone's out to get you. There are actually really cool people here. You just have to find them."

"People are afraid of me, Jason," Nico said, shaking his head. "I shouldn't have come here. You go and hang out with Piper."

"You come with me, then," Jason said.

Nico sighed. "Okay, fine. But go on without me. I'll be there in a minute."

Jason looked reluctant about leaving Nico alone, like he couldn't trust him or something, but he eventually decided that it would be okay, and he walked away.

Nico turned away from everyone else and walked a little way down the beach, far enough so that he could watch what was going on at the party but they would not see him, and therefore not come looking for him. The water rolled in and crashed on the shore, sending a salty spray across his face. He hadn't been in the water in so long. There were actually people in the water right now. There was some sort of magical shield around the camp that managed to keep the wind out and make the weather perfect for the party.

He noticed that, amongst the people in the water, there was Percy, showing off his powers and making the water do whatever he willed it to do. There were girls all around him, watching in amazement, and he was absolutely loving the attention. Nico rolled his eyes and managed a smile. He wanted to think that he wasn't interested in any of those girls and he was just trying to show off, but he wasn't so sure. Perhaps, since a new year was beginning, Percy was trying to start anew.

Maybe he should start anew too. He could leave camp, maybe take up residence at Camp Jupiter with Hazel, where no one really knew him all that well. But they would eventually figure it all out too, and maybe they wouldn't like him either. He would still be alone. Or maybe he could go to New Orleans. He had always liked it there. Wherever he went, whatever he decided to do, he knew that it would be better. Now that Percy was in a better mood and he had put his life back together, Nico didn't really see any point in hanging around. If Percy needed him, that was fine; he would do anything for him. But he wasn't quite sure if he should remain friends with him. It was just too difficult and painful, being friends and having feelings that would never be returned. He was only hurting himself.

How many times had he thought about leaving, and he didn't go anywhere? Who was he kidding? He didn't care if he was hurting; he was probably never going to leave again, because that would hurt too. He would rather be here with Percy, constantly pained knowing that nothing was ever going to happen, than go off on his own and wallow in his own misery for another year of his life.

He walked back to where the rest of the campers were, trying to avoid as many people as he could, but he bumped into a few who were jumping around and playing some sort of game like tag or something. He knew people were staring at him, and it made him really self-conscious, but he tried to ignore them until he got to where Jason was standing with Piper, Leo, and Calypso.

"…and I just really, really think that you shouldn't do this!" Piper was saying. "I mean, you haven't even tested them! Why don't we just go to a fireworks stand and get some that are guaranteed to work?"

"Piper, why don't you trust me?" Leo asked. "I know what I'm doing! These fireworks are going to work, I promise."

"Um…I think I'm going to have to agree with Piper…" Calypso said.

Leo gasped in disbelief and started to argue, but then his eyes landed on Nico, and he jumped in surprise. "Dude, please," he said. "Can you like, make a noise or something to let us know when you walk up? It's like you just appear out of nowhere."

Nico stared at him for a second, but he did not say anything, so Leo turned away from him and started talking to Calypso again.

"How soon until I can go back to my cabin?" Nico asked Jason.

Jason smiled, the way that he did when he was trying to remain happy even though he was slightly irritated. "After midnight, if you want. But that's about an hour and a half away."

Nico blew out an exasperated breath. Just an hour and a half with a bunch of people that he didn't like, watching as they all enjoyed themselves and kissed their significant other as the clock struck twelve. Just another important kiss that he would never get to experience.

He turned, disinterested in the conversation at hand, and started to walk away, but he ran into someone once again. He looked down at the ground, prepared to just walk around the person and pretend nothing had happened, but once he realized who it was that he had run into, he wanted to get away faster.

"Hey, di Angelo," Ryan from Aphrodite said. "Didn't mean to run into you. But now that I think of it, I do have something to chat with you about. Come over here with me." He slung his arm around Nico's shoulders, but Nico stepped out of his grasp. Derek he could deal with, but Ryan? He wasn't so sure. He reached to his side where he usually kept his blade, but naturally, it wasn't there. He hadn't thought that he would need a weapon at a New Years' Eve party.

"Whoa, calm down," Ryan said, holding his hands up in surrender. At that point, Jason realized that something was going on, but Nico stopped him before he could do anything. "Listen, I just wanted to apologize, you know? I know I really freaked you out, and we were just having fun and joking around. We didn't mean anything by it."

Nico raised an eyebrow and studied Ryan for a moment. He really didn't look like he was lying at all, but children of the love goddess were very charismatic, so naturally, they were good at manipulating people. Ryan might just be trying to maintain his good reputation. After everyone had heard about the capture the flag incident, people started talking about Ryan like he was the most horrible person in the world. Bullying was, typically, frowned upon at Camp Half-Blood, and that was no exception.

"Okay," he said. "So…what are you looking for? Forgiveness? Because I'm really not sure if I'm ready for that." He had been trying really, really hard to be better at forgiving people, but holding grudges was still his fatal flaw, so it had been rather difficult for him. He still hadn't quite forgiven the incident in the forest, no matter how hard he tried.

"You don't have to be so bitter," Ryan said. There was the smirk. Nico knew that he was up to something. "Look, I just thought that since a new year is beginning soon, maybe I should try being a little nicer. So, whether you forgive me or not, I'm truly sorry."

Nico hesitated. He didn't believe him at all, but he accepted it, just so there wouldn't be any trouble. "Is that it?"

"For now," Ryan said. "Maybe, since the new year is rolling in soon, you should start changing things about yourself too."

Nico's upper lip curled as rage started to bubble up inside him. He was not going to fight. He was so tired of Derek and Ryan and drama, and he just wanted to end it. He hoped this was the last night of it. The end of the year meant the end of his torment. But he doubted that.

"I'm going to tell you the same thing that I told your friend," Nico said. "Usually, the things you point out that are wrong in other people are the things that you're trying to hide. Am I right?"

Ryan frowned, taking a step away from him. He was not Derek; he was not going to fight, especially since Nico was completely correct, and he knew it. "I don't know what you're talking about," Ryan said.

"Ryan, what are you doing?" Piper asked, rushing in between Nico and her brother. "I know that _most _Aphrodite kids live for drama, but there are other things that are more important. This is a party! Let's all be nice to each other."

"That's what I was doing," Ryan replied. "I was apologizing. New year, new me, you know?"

Piper didn't look for a minute like she believed him, but she, like everyone else there besides Ryan, was not in the mood for drama, so she just told him to go away as nicely as an annoyed sister could and returned to her conversation that she was having with Leo and Calypso.

"You know, if I could change who I was, I would," Nico said to Jason, once he was sure that no one else was listening. "But I don't think I can."

"You don't have to change anything about yourself," Jason told him. "You're fine just the way you are. Stop beating yourself up. If anything should change, it's your attitude toward yourself."

Nico ignored his last comment. "Maybe I could be a child of another god or goddess, not Hades. That might make a difference. And maybe, if I weren't-"

At that moment, Percy came rushing over to them so fast that Nico didn't have time to move out of the way. Percy jumped on him excitedly and almost dragged him down on the sand, and he actually laughed, completely forgetting about everything that had happened to him all night, all the thoughts that had run through his mind. Percy was like a little energetic child, and it was cute. It reminded him that there were some things in the world that were worth being happy over.

"No one seems to be as excited as I am," Percy said, ruffling Nico's hair. "But you're smiling, so that's good. Hey, Jason." He clapped a hand on the son of Zeus's shoulder and then blew a party horn in his face. "Get excited!"

"Why? It's not midnight yet," Jason replied.

Percy ignored him, turning his back on him and instead facing Nico. "Everyone's trying to find someone to kiss at midnight, and I'm really not sure how to feel about it. Jason, obviously, you have Piper. And Leo and Calypso. Clarisse has someone too! And I don't know what to do. Chloe keeps looking at me, and I'm thinking she's either going to ask me if I want to kiss her at midnight, or she's just going to do it, and I'm not sure if I want to…but I need someone to kiss at midnight."

Nico frowned. "Are people still doing that? I mean…are a lot of people doing that? Because…um…I think there are other ways to ring in the new year."

Percy's eyebrows knit together as he stared at Nico in confusion, and then he shook his head. "No. No, if you have someone to kiss, you should kiss them. What about that girl from Hecate cabin? Where's she at? You could kiss her at midnight."

Nico had almost forgotten about the girl from Hecate that he had lied about. "Um…no. No, I don't think she's here. I think she went home for the holidays. But it's okay. I'll be fine. Is it really that big of a deal?"

Percy frowned, and then he shrugged. "Well, I guess not. It's just a nice way of celebrating, I guess. I've never kissed anyone at midnight on New Year's before, but it seems like it would be the best way to celebrate. Everyone else does it."

There was an obvious solution to Percy's little problem, but Nico thought it would be really stupid for him to suggest it, so he kept his mouth shut.

"Sorry," he said. "But if you really want someone to kiss at midnight, I'm sure Chloe would be more than willing."

Where had that come from? He should not be telling Percy to kiss a girl that he barely even knew. But really, he just wanted Percy to be happy, and that was all that mattered.

Percy was silent for a second as he stared at Nico, but then he just shrugged and said, "Hey, I'm playing with water down here! You guys should come down there with me. People are very impressed by me."

Jason raised an eyebrow at him. "No, thanks. I don't think I want to join your fan club tonight. I'll stay here with Piper and Leo and his defective fireworks."

"They're not defective!" Leo exclaimed. "I'm setting these off at midnight, and they're going to be the most dazzling thing you've ever seen."

"I _really _doubt that," Calypso said.

As they started to argue again, Nico decided that he was sick of listening to them, and he followed Percy down to the water. That was a pretty stupid idea as well. He didn't want to listen to Leo, but he really didn't want to listen to a bunch of idiotic girls freak out over Percy. They were all demigods; they all had powers. But to them, it was like Percy was some sort of god himself. However, as Nico had thought earlier, they weren't much to Percy, just an admiring crowd. Sometimes Percy really needed attention, and tonight was one of those times. He still held supreme power amongst the campers here.

He kept quiet the entire time Percy was doing his little water tricks, just sat on the sand and watched from a couple of feet away, and he admired Percy as well. But he didn't admire him the way that the girls did. They might think he was some sort of almighty god, but Nico still saw the guy that had saved him four years ago. He was not a god to be idolized, but a normal human hero to fall in love with, with all his flaws and perfections alike. The girls liked Percy's power, but Nico loved all of him. Every single bit, even if he did want to strangle him sometimes.

At the seaside, the time went by fast, and Nico hardly noticed the rest of the party going on. Eventually, someone turned the music off and announced that there was one minute left until the clock struck midnight. People started chanting the countdown, and Nico could see them moving toward their significant other, or, at least, someone that was willing to kiss them. Surely he wouldn't be the only one that wasn't kissing someone at midnight. There was someone else. There had to be.

"45…look! The ball's dropping! 42…41…"

Nico didn't even notice that there was a television outside, and there were some people who were crowded around it, watching the celebration in Times Square. He got up, brushing the sand off of him as he started to walk away from the crowd.

"33…32…31…"

"Um, Percy?"

Nico glanced over, watching the scene that was playing out in front of him. He knew it was going to happen, so why was he getting so upset? Percy had been counting down with everyone else, but he turned to face the daughter of Hermes that was now addressing him.

"Um…hey, Chloe. What's up?" Apparently he knew what was happening too, because he looked a little nervous.

So did Chloe. "So…uh…I was just wondering…I mean…um…" She looked down at the ground and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"20…19…18…"

Nico turned his back on them, knowing exactly where it was headed. He broke apart from the crowd and walked a little farther down the beach where he could be alone. He did not see any point in celebrating another year of being alone and miserable. He stared out across the sea at nothing in particular, just so he wouldn't look in the direction of the celebration.

"10…9…8…7…"

The shouts were getting louder, and he tried to drown them out, but he couldn't. He looked back over at the crowd of campers, and he noticed that he was not the only one that was alone tonight. There were several, actually, that would not be ringing in the new year with a kiss at midnight. Derek was among them, and he looked almost as miserable as Nico felt, but everyone else appeared fine.

The countdown ended. There was a bunch of noise, people shouting and cheering and party horns being blown, but then there were people like Jason and Piper and Leo and Calypso and Percy and Chloe, who were kissing, and Nico looked away again, trying to suppress the pain that he was feeling at the moment, trying to think of something good, something pleasant, but he couldn't think of anything. He had seen them, and the image was permanently seared in his mind.

Fireworks exploded, but they did not go up. Instead, they flew directly into the sea, lighting up the dark water in shades of pink and green and blue, and little sparks danced on the surface. Some fireworks whizzed through the crowd of campers, and they all ran and screamed and scattered all over the beach.

"LEO!" Calypso shouted. "WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT THE FIREWORKS?"

But, after a minute or so, some of them did go up into the sky, and they were the most extraordinarily beautiful fireworks that Nico had ever seen in his entire life. For just a moment, as he stared at the colors exploding across the black night sky, he forgot everything and focused on how incredibly talented Leo was, when he wanted to be.

Then he remembered, but he felt no pain. It was a new year now. Perhaps he should change some things about himself. There were things he could not change, but maybe that wasn't exactly a bad thing. Maybe, just maybe, this year he could try to embrace it, no matter how difficult that might be. He didn't want to be sad anymore. He had friends. And he had Percy. Percy made him happy, whether he wanted him to or not.

Was there any point in making a new year's resolution? No one ever followed through with them, but he made one anyway. It probably wouldn't happen, but tonight, he was feeling hopeful. If Annabeth was not going to be with Percy, then like hell Chloe was. Percy deserved better than that. Nico didn't exactly think he was better than Chloe, but he was going to try. Percy was his goal for the new year, because, like Jason had said, there was a noticeable change in Percy's behavior ever since Annabeth left. Nothing may come of it, or maybe everything in the world would come of it, but Nico was going to pursue it. He would probably change his mind by morning, when all of his hope and determination had faded, but for now, all he wanted was to make Percy fall in love with him. And that's what he was going to do.


	11. Day 58

**Sorry that this chapter is coming so late. I promise the next one will come sooner. I just want to say thank you to all the people who have reviewed and favorited and added this to their alerts! It seriously means so much to me. I'm so glad you guys are still reading and I haven't bored you to tears yet. I hope this chapter still keeps you intrigued. Read on, dears. And enjoy! **

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_Day 58_

"So, how is everything?" Hazel asked as she looked up at her brother, sitting directly across the table from her. "How was New Year's? Did you guys do anything?"

Nico looked up at her, raising an eyebrow, and then glanced at Frank, who was sitting next to her. He knew that Hazel's question ran deeper than what she was saying in front of Frank, so he said, "Fine. Everything's fine, I think. We had a party, but it wasn't all that fun. Percy showing off, Leo exploding things. The usual, you know."

Hazel nodded and then looked back down at the game board that was on the table. She frowned and lowered herself down so that she was at eye-level with the board, though Nico didn't understand what she was doing. It wasn't as if there was anything that she could gather from that angle.

"What are you doing, Hazel?" Frank asked the question that he and Nico were both thinking.

She sighed and laid her head down on the table. "This game is so stressful!" she exclaimed, her voice muffled. "Why are we playing this game? I don't know if I want to do college or career!"

Nico rolled his eyes and smiled a little as he placed her car on the starting point. "Relax, Hazel. It's just Life. It's really not that big of a deal. If you choose college, you can get better job choices and make more money and get a better house and everything."

"But if you choose career, you get move faster than us," Frank said. "We're both doing college first. You wouldn't have to go to school, but ultimately, Nico and I might be able to make more money and we'll have more Life pieces, and we'll win."

Hazel scowled. "Fine, I'll go to college. That's what I wanted to do anyway." She placed her piece next to Frank and Nico's. "I'll spin first."

Nico watched as she spun the wheel and it landed on two. She sighed heavily and moved her piece and then looked at Frank to signal him that it was his turn.

"How was your New Year's?" Nico asked.

"Oh, it was fine," Hazel answered, shrugging indifferently. "We didn't really do anything. I mean, there was a party, but I didn't go. I wasn't feeling very well. Frank and I stayed in and watched movies, which was fun. We watched old movies that I found from the forties, and then we watched the Disney version of Hercules."

"Sounds fun," Nico said as Frank moved his piece and gestured for Nico to go. He spun the wheel and got six, and he moved his piece in front of both Hazel and Frank's. "Any New Year's resolutions?"

Hazel's eyebrows knitted together as she glared down at the board and spun the wheel again, getting a one. She sighed dramatically and moved her piece. "I've decided that I'm going to work out more each day and get into better shape."

Nico rolled his eyes again. "Come on, Hazel! That's _everyone's _New Year's resolution, and how many people actually go through with it?" Even when he was a kid, people made those kinds of resolutions and never kept their word for more than a month.

"Well, I decided that I'm going to smile at every single person that I come across, because you don't know what's going on in their lives, and that smile might make their day," Frank said. "I want to be a kinder person this year."

"You're already like a big, cuddly teddy bear," Hazel said, nudging him in the side playfully and smiling. "But that's a good one. What about you, Nico?"

Nico connected eyes with her, and she frowned and nodded, immediately knowing that it was the topic that was not to be discussed in front of Frank. But Frank didn't seem to notice the exchange between them, or he chose to ignore it, because he just continued on with his move like nothing happened.

"Has Annabeth contacted you?" Nico asked. "She stays in contact with Piper a little bit, but she doesn't talk to Percy at all. I thought, since you two were pretty good friends-"

"I haven't heard anything from her," Hazel replied. "But I think Reyna has, which is a little strange. Everything seems fine. Why?"

Nico did not answer her, but just continued playing the game. He wasn't sure why he had asked. Maybe because, since Percy cared about her so much, he couldn't help but care for her too, no matter how jealous he was of her. But Percy hadn't talked about her since Christmas, so maybe…he didn't want to say Percy stopped caring, because that would never happen, but Percy definitely had put his life into perspective and moved on. The entire question was completely pointless, and Nico shook his head. There was absolutely no reason to ask that.

"Still having bullying problems?" Hazel asked, realizing that he did not want to talk about it. "I told you I wouldn't hesitate to come over there and tear some people up if they were being mean to you."

Nico smiled a little but tried not to let her see. He was secretly glad that his sister cared so much about him that she would stand up for him like that. That was something that Bianca would do. Bianca would always take care of him. But he didn't let Hazel see his emotions.

"Everything's under control," he said. "No bullying problems. I'm fine."

"Bullying problems?" Frank asked with concern. "What's going on?"

Hazel rolled her eyes and waved it off. "The curse of Hades and Pluto children, don't worry. I don't ever get bullied, really, but at Camp Half-Blood, it's about the worst thing you can be. But don't worry about it, Frank."

So he didn't, because Hazel wasn't getting bullied or teased, so there was no reason for him to interfere. And even if she was, there was no reason for him to interfere. She could take care of herself.

"So no bullying problems," Hazel said with a sigh as she spun the wheel again. "Yes! Finally! I graduated college! Now I get to choose a career." Frank held up the cards for her, and she chose one randomly and then smiled. "Oh, yes! A teacher! I might be good at that."

Nico managed a smile. She was taking the game too seriously, but that was completely okay with him. In fact, it put him in a better mood, seeing Hazel so happy and excited.

"How are Percy and everyone else doing?" Hazel asked, once Frank had started his turn. "I really miss everyone. I'll have to come and visit soon."

"They're great," Nico answered. "Everyone's great. Jason and Piper are still together, and Leo and Calypso don't claim to be a couple, but they are. Percy is- DAMN IT! I have to get married?"

He looked up at Hazel and Frank, who were both staring wide-eyed at him like he had done something completely offensive, and he sighed and apologized for his language. Hazel nodded and smiled, not really seeming to mind at all, but Frank still looked utterly confused, like he had never heard any curse word in his entire life.

"Well, of course you have to get married," Hazel said with a shrug. "It's a part of life. And that's kind of the game we're playing."

Nico rolled his eyes. Maybe when he was younger, marriage seemed like it was a must for everyone, but now, he knew better. "Not everyone gets married," he said. "I'm never getting married."

"You say that now, but you'll change your mind," Frank replied. "Everyone goes through that phase where they think there's no one out there for them. But there is."

Nico looked over at Hazel, who was frowning, and he tried to smile a little to let her know that he wasn't bothered at all by Frank. After all, he didn't know anything. He hardly knew Nico at all. He only liked him because he was Hazel's half-brother, and if he was Hazel's half-brother, then there must be some sort of good in him. Frank liked to look for the good in people. But he didn't understand. He was completely oblivious.

"You were saying something about Percy?" Hazel asked with the hint of a smile playing on her lips. "What's going on with him?"

Nico let out a breath and rolled his eyes, trying not to let the stupid board game get to him. It was just a game. A game about life, what life was supposed to be like, what you were supposed to do, and he wasn't doing it correctly, apparently.

"Yeah," he said. "Percy went out on a date with this girl Chloe from Hermes cabin about a week ago, but he's been trying to avoid her ever since. He thinks that she-"

He stopped, staring at the little pink piece that Frank was holding up to him to put in his car, and he suddenly didn't feel like playing the game anymore. _Just a game_, he reminded himself, but it was starting to make him feel sick. Why could it not be just him? Or why could it not be two blue figures in the car? Because this was what was expected. This was what was supposed to happen. Frank, and everyone else in the entire world, expected the same thing from him.

What would his mother think, if she were still alive? That was a new question. It had always been _What would Bianca think_? He hadn't ever thought about Maria di Angelo. Or even his father. Maybe they would hate him. Or maybe they would love him just the same, which wasn't saying much for Hades. He couldn't imagine his mother being angry, but they had come from a different time, a time where people were unaccepted and beaten for something like that, so maybe she wouldn't understand at all. That hurt, to think about his mother being angry with him or disowning him. He wasn't sure if she would or not.

Hazel noticed his hesitation and patted Frank on the shoulder. "Hey, I'm bored. Let's play another game. I have Monopoly! Want me to go get it?"

"If you want," Frank said with a little shrug, though he didn't seem too keen on the idea. "But we just got started."

"It's okay, Hazel," Nico said, accepting the piece from Frank, who still had it outstretched toward him. "Sorry, I just zoned out there for a second. It's fine. It's just a game."

Hazel nodded and smiled at him, and she reached across the table and squeezed his hand. He returned the smile, deciding that, as long as Hazel was on his side, it didn't matter. Bianca and his mother were long gone, so it didn't do him any good thinking about what they would say and what they would do. Hazel was there, and that was all that mattered.

Frank kept looking in between the two of them, trying to figure out what was going on, but Nico knew that he wouldn't, not without someone telling him. Frank was a great guy, and he was really one of the nicest and bravest people that Nico had ever met, but he was far too innocent and far too naïve to see the obvious.

Hazel let go of Nico's hand and took her turn. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" she exclaimed, jumping up from the table so fast that it almost startled Frank right out of his seat. She never raised her voice, but this game was the real deal for her. "I just lost money? I haven't even got my first paycheck yet! How am I supposed to pay for that? I'm in debt. I am in debt. I am a teacher in debt. No, forget this. We're playing Monopoly."

….

When Nico returned to Camp Half-Blood that night, he went straight to Percy's cabin, like he had been doing since New Year's. It was late, but the door was unlocked, so he just went right in. The lights were out and the television was on, blaring some sort of action movie complete with gunshots and explosions. The place was a mess again, but not like it had been, just like a typical teenager's room. Percy was sitting in the middle of a jumble of dirty clothes all bundled up in a blue blanket and eating chips, his eyes glued to the television screen, though he didn't look interested in what was going on.

"Where've you been all day?" Percy asked, still not looking up. "We all went down to the beach and had a picnic. The weather was decent today."

"Sorry," Nico said as he sat down on the floor next to Percy. "I was at Camp Jupiter visiting Hazel. She and Frank might visit sometime soon."

"Great," Percy replied, offering the chip bag to Nico but still not taking his eyes off the television. "I'd love to see them again. And Reyna. I miss them."

Nico declined the chips and instead focused on the screen. They fell into a comfortable silence. Everything was working out in Nico's favor, so far. It was eleven days into the new year and Percy hadn't told him to go away and leave him alone yet. In fact, every night he left, Percy always said good night and told him that he would see him tomorrow night. Nico could only hope that it was the same tonight.

"You know, this movie is completely overrated," Percy said. "They try to make all these action sequences look all scary and intense, but I'm pretty sure we went through a whole lot worse than this in the Titan War _and _the Giant War."

Nico nodded in agreement. He had most definitely seen worse at Camp Half-Blood, leading an army of campers against the Romans and monsters and giants. He had seen parts of camp set on fire and burned to the ground and campers that he had seen since he was ten years old slaughtered right in front of him. Everything that he had been through his entire life was far worse than any action movie.

"Especially Tartarus," he said, and then immediately shut his mouth. He hadn't meant to say anything about it out loud, but it just sort of fell out. He felt Percy shift uncomfortably next to him, and his stomach churned. The word hung heavy in the air, echoing in his mind, and he wished that he had never said anything at all. He had learned how to deal with the memories of the place, or at least suppress them as much as he could, but he wasn't sure about Percy.

"Do you ever have nightmares about it anymore?" Percy asked after a long silence.

"Yes," Nico murmured, looking down at the floor. He should not have said anything. He wished that it would have stayed in his head. He didn't want to talk about that place ever again, but it didn't seem like it would ever go away. The nightmares came almost every night still, and he didn't think they would end.

"I do too," Percy said. "Though I doubt I have it worse than you do. I can't even imagine…" He shook his head, took a shaky breath, and threw his chips and blanket aside. "I'm tired of this movie. Let's watch something else. What did you bring to watch?"

Nico let out a loud breath. He had completely forgotten that it was his turn to pick the movie. "Sorry, I didn't bring anything."

"That's fine," Percy replied as he crawled over to his movie shelf. "I have _Finding Nemo_. We can watch that again." He was trying to hide his excitement, but Nico could tell that Percy was actually really happy that Nico had forgotten the movie. This would be the third time that they had watched _Finding Nemo _since the new year began.

"You know," Percy said as he put the DVD in the player, "I can speak to whales just as well as Dory can."

Nico smiled. And that would be at least the tenth time that Percy had told him about his ability to speak to whales. But Nico didn't mind. When he was younger, he was completely fascinated with all the abilities that the son of Poseidon possessed. He wasn't as excitable about it anymore, but he was still intrigued by all the things that Percy could do. In Nico's opinion, Percy was far stronger than Jason, son of Zeus.

"Do you remember when we first met, you asked me if I could surf?" Percy said, coming back to his spot next to Nico and curling up in his blanket again. "I'm not sure I ever answered you. I can, I'm pretty sure. If I tried."

"I had actually forgotten about asking you that," Nico said. That was a complete lie; he remembered practically every single thing about the first time he met Percy. But he wouldn't admit that. Not out loud. "I remember asking you if Annabeth was your girlfriend, though."

Percy nodded and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and I remember wanting to throw you to the wolves. But I didn't, so that's the important thing."

They were silent for a moment. Nico wondered if there were any Disney movies that had anything to do with him, but he doubted that. Death was a really touchy subject, especially in America. There were plenty of movies about things that took place in water, because water was a good thing, vital, refreshing, peaceful. The only thing that Nico could think of was the Disney version of Hercules, which had his father in it, but it was the most inaccurate depiction of his father he had ever seen. Though, perhaps, that Hades might be a better father than his was.

"I never learned how to swim, you know," Nico said, trying to keep himself from thinking about his father. That would only put him in a bad mood. "Bianca tried to teach me, but I never wanted to learn. I'm not sure why. I always preferred just staying in the shallow water."

Percy shrugged. "I could teach you how to swim, if you want. I'm going down to the beach tomorrow, since it's supposed to be kind of warm. You could come."

Nico frowned. He wasn't sure if that would be the best idea. But he wanted to spend more time with Percy. Things were going so well. He didn't want to ruin it. But Percy teaching him how to swim just seemed a little too…intimate? Perhaps that wasn't the right word to use, but the idea made him nervous.

"If you want, we can go to the lake first, if that would make you feel better," Percy said. "It would probably be easier than the ocean to start out with. Of course, we might have to deal with the naiads…but that'll be okay, I think. I might invite Chloe…"

That got Nico's attention. He looked over at Percy in shock, trying to figure out if he had heard him correctly. He must have, but he couldn't understand why. Percy hadn't said anything about Chloe since their date, except for the fact that he was trying to avoid her. So why was he going to invite her?

"Um…Chloe?" Nico asked.

"Yeah," Percy answered, like that was normal, and then looked over at Nico and frowned. "Oh, I know that I said I didn't want to go out with her again, but I thought I might give her another shot. You know? It wouldn't be right to judge her after just one date."

"Um…right," Nico said. So he still had competition. Not only did he have to deal with the fact that Percy would _never _be completely over Annabeth, but he also had to deal with the fact that Percy probably had a new girlfriend. "Yeah, that wouldn't be right. I'm sure if you gave her another shot, she'd be okay…"

Who was he kidding? He wasn't competition to Chloe. He wasn't competition because he wasn't a girl. This was never going to happen. What was he even doing? He was only hurting himself, thinking that he could change things.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Percy said. "And you can invite that girl from Hecate if you want. But I mean, I don't blame you if you don't want her to come and watch you learn how to swim…"

Nico rolled his eyes. Once again, he had completely forgotten about the girl from Hecate that he supposedly liked. He hadn't even looked at any girls from Hecate, so he wasn't even sure which one he would invite.

"Oh, no. I don't think I'll invite her," he said. "And if you want it to just be you and Chloe, I'll leave you alone. It's fine."

Percy completely ignored him. Nico had lost his attention. He was watching the movie now, his eyes wide with interest, even though he had probably seen it a thousand times. "The beginning of this movie pisses me off," Percy said as he stuffed more chips into his mouth. "Ah aye duh dum fiz."

"What?" Nico asked.

"I said I hate that damn fish," Percy said. "Nemo's mom should not have had to die."

Nico shrugged. "Well, I don't know. Everything happens for a reason, I guess. If his mom wouldn't have died protecting him and his brothers and sisters, the rest of the movie wouldn't have happened."

Percy was silent, dropping the bag of chips onto the ground, and curled his legs closer to him. "Yeah…" he finally said. "I guess everything does happen for a reason."

Everything happens for a reason. Nico couldn't help but take that to heart. Everything that he had said actually started playing through his mind over and over again. If Nemo's mother hadn't died, the rest of the movie wouldn't have happened the way it did. Nico wondered if his mother was still alive, if things would be different for him. If Bianca would still be alive, if he would have ever met Hazel, if he would still be the way he was…

They watched the rest of the movie in almost complete silence, except for when Percy laughed at the funny parts that he had seen a thousand times, but he still found hilarious. At some point during the movie, Percy lay down on the floor with the blanket covering him, with one of his arms sprawled out in front of him and his hand just a couple of inches away from Nico's. It didn't seem like Percy even noticed how close they were, but Nico couldn't help but notice. He couldn't even focus on the movie because Percy was so close to him now. He just kept looking down, watching Percy's hand carefully to make sure that he didn't come any closer.

But he did. His hand brushed Nico's, and Nico jerked his away immediately while Percy apologized nonchalantly and flipped over onto his stomach, like it was no big deal. Nico tried to act like it hadn't affected him at all, but he was almost certain that Percy had noticed his behavior, even though he didn't say anything.

He hoped that one day, eventually, he could come over to Percy's cabin and they could hold hands and curl up under the same blanket and watch movies together. But he knew that that was very, very unlikely.

"Well, _Finding Nemo _is still the best movie," Percy said, after the movie had ended. "But it's your turn to bring the movie tomorrow night. Don't forget."

The corner of Nico's mouth turned up into a little smile. "You want to hang out tomorrow night too? You aren't getting tired of movies every night?"

Percy shook his head. "No. Why? Are you?"

"No," Nico answered. "I was just wondering, you know. You don't want to hang out with someone else? Or do something else?"

"This is fine," Percy said. "Though I think we should plan a game night for sometime soon. Invite Jason and Piper and the rest of them over. It would be fun."

"Yeah," Nico agreed. "But let's not play Life. I played that with Hazel and Frank today."

"Okay," Percy said, yawning and rolling over onto his back. He rolled too far and ended up on top of Nico's legs, and Nico jerked away once again. Percy raised an eyebrow at him, and Nico tried to relax. It was no big deal, really, but any physical contact with Percy made him freak out. But Percy didn't bother to ask.

"I think I'm going to bed," Percy said. "So I'll see you tomorrow night. Hope you have a peaceful, nightmare-free sleep."

Nico smiled a little at him as he got up from the floor and headed toward the door. He genuinely hoped that there were no nightmares tonight, but he doubted that would happen. "Goodnight," he said, and then he walked out.

He wondered if he and Percy were hanging out tomorrow, or if Percy and Chloe were hanging out tomorrow. He decided that if Percy came to his cabin and asked him to come along with him and Chloe, he would not go. He would wait until the nighttime, because he did not want to third wheel. He didn't want to see Percy getting closer to another girl while he was falling more and more in love with Percy by the day.

When he got into his cabin, he stripped down and put on his pajamas, and he climbed into bed, thinking over the day's events. He wondered if Frank had figured anything out. Probably not, but there was a small possibility. What if he asked Hazel about it? Would Hazel say anything? No, of course not. She would wait until Nico was ready.

But mostly he thought about Percy, because that's what he thought about almost every night before he went to sleep, even though he wished that he didn't. It just made him stay awake longer, especially tonight. How was he supposed to sleep, knowing that Percy was giving Chloe a second chance? When it was Annabeth that Percy was dating, Nico wouldn't have ever interfered, because he wanted Percy to be happy. But he couldn't make himself believe that Chloe was what Percy wanted. She was probably really nice and really cool to hang out with, but Nico couldn't help thinking that she was just a rebound. Percy was just trying to move on. Still, Nico would not interfere, not if she made Percy happy. He would sacrifice his happiness for Percy's any day.

It wasn't until he rolled over and heard the crunch beneath him that he realized there was a note on his bed. The noise woke Snowflake up, and he jumped off the bed and flitted off into the cabin somewhere. Nico dug the note out from underneath him and turned on the light next to his bed, though he could see perfectly fine in the darkness.

As soon as he saw the note, his heart stopped. He didn't even have to read it to know who it was from, but it seemed so completely impossible. Blood red paper with black ink, the handwriting messy and slanted. He had never received a message from his father before. Hades had never attempted to contact him; Nico always went to him first. And even then, Hades had never shown any interest in him whatsoever. So why was there a note from his father on his bed right now?

He read the very few words written on the paper, and his stomach clenched. He crumpled the note up and threw it on the ground, and he curled up underneath his blanket, shaking and more awake than before. _We need to talk soon. Come and see me within the next week. _It wasn't signed or anything, but he knew it was Hades. He could sense it. And he knew what it was about.

His father had never shown any interest in anything that was going on in his son's life, so why did he care now? He did not want to go and talk to his father about something like this, because he didn't know what his father would have to say. He didn't know where his father had even heard it. But what did it matter? He didn't care what his dad had to say. But he still dreaded seeing him.

He got up out of bed and put his shoes and jacket back on, and he walked out of the cabin. His head was swirling with too many thoughts. What was he supposed to say to his father? Why should he even justify himself to his father? What reason did he have to even meet with his father to talk? He didn't feel like he should. But it still troubled him. He left the cabin, knowing that he would not be able to get any sleep tonight.


End file.
